It’s not every day a high school student completes a math paper and has it published in an academic journal. However, for Santa Fe Christian senior Ryan Rodrigue that became a reality for him this year.
Last year, Rodrigue attended a math competition at California State University, Long Beach, where he connected with Dr. Olga Korosteleva, a statistics professor. Afterward, Rodrigue ed the professor for guidance on writing a research paper about Markov properties, which eventually was published, according to a news release.
“The first half of my research is all about proving why our method actually worked,” said Rodrigue in the news release. “My research helped me see math in a new way. Rather than just taking what other people give you as a fact, you’re really trying to understand it more and be able to prove why things are the way they are. I love that about math.”
Over the course of nine months, while balancing sports and academics, Rodrigue meticulously worked on his research, testing conditions under which a stochastic process follows the Markov property. His study focused on four main applications:
Weather change patterns – Contrary to conventional belief, Rodrigue discovered that weather, a classic Markov example, does not actually follow Markov properties.
Consonant to vowel transitions in literary works — Rodrigue studied the transition from consonant to vowel transitions in literature and discovered it did follow Markov properties. Building on this knowledge, he developed software capable of detecting the language of an unknown text.
Stock Market Trends – After analyzing Tesla’s daily closing prices, Rodrigue found that Tesla’s stock exhibits the Markov property. This offers insights into next-day performance based on the previous day’s trend.
DNA Nucleotide Sequences – Rodrigue analyzed genetic sequences to determine that DNA does not follow Markov properties in mutation patterns.
Rodrigue has always enjoyed math, but his true ion for the subject was ignited in SFC teacher Mike Maxon’s advanced math classes. Under Maxon’s teaching, Rodrigue deepened his understanding of mathematical theory and discovered his love for research—a field where he could explore new ideas rather than simply learn from a textbook.
“God created everything in His image,” Rodrigue said in the news release. “Everything was made so perfectly that it couldn’t have been by chance. Seeing how math works, it couldn’t just come out of nowhere. You could say people invented math, but math was created to describe the universe, and God created that universe.”
Rodrigue’s ion for applied mathematics extends beyond his research. He teaches math at SFC’s math club and taught Algebra 3 over the summer.
“I would not have been able to write this [Rodrigue’s math paper] until I was in my master’s program,” said Maxon in the news release.
Looking ahead, Rodrigue aspires to earn a Ph.D. and go into research.
“My advice to an incoming high school student would be to take advantage of every opportunity that there is at SFC,” said Rodrigue in the news release. “No matter what you’re ionate about, there is some opportunity here for you. Find what you’re ionate about, and then just go all in.”
