This is very interesting. I was recently looking over Leslie Lamport's writings[0] and noticed that his first publication was in high school, and was actually about graph theory. Similar to another comment on here he was interested in braids, a branch of graph theory.
Obviously he is a prodigy compared to the general populace. But perhaps an earlier introduction to some of these mathematical concepts led to the man we know today? If so, one would hope that a similar interest would motivate young students to take a different path, one where mathematics isn't quite so scary.
Obviously he is a prodigy compared to the general populace. But perhaps an earlier introduction to some of these mathematical concepts led to the man we know today? If so, one would hope that a similar interest would motivate young students to take a different path, one where mathematics isn't quite so scary.
[0] http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/lamport/pubs/p...