mathematics

In Our Prime

In Our Prime is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand In Our Prime rather than just read about it. In short: In Our Prime (Korean: 이상한 나라의 수학자; lit. 'Mathematician in Wonderland') is a 2022 South Korean drama film directed by Park Dong-hoon. The film stars Choi Min-sik as a genius mathematician with a hidden past and Kim Dong-hwi as a student who is failing math.

Key takeaways

In Our Prime belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect In Our Prime to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of In Our Prime from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

In Our Prime (Korean: 이상한 나라의 수학자; lit. 'Mathematician in Wonderland') is a 2022 South Korean drama film directed by Park Dong-hoon. The film stars Choi Min-sik as a genius mathematician with a hidden past and Kim Dong-hwi as a student who is failing math. The supporting cast includes Park Byung-eun, Park Hae-joon, and Jo Yun-seo. The film was released theatrically on March 9, 2022.

Plot A genius mathematician, Lee Hak-sung, defects from North Korea in pursuit of academic freedom. To conceal his identity and past, he takes on the role of a security guard at an elite private high school, where only the top 1% of gifted students are admitted. With his cold and stern demeanor, Hak-sung becomes the most avoided figure on campus. However, his life takes an unexpected turn when he meets Han Ji-woo, a struggling high school student who has given up on math. After discovering Hak-sung's true identity, Ji-woo persistently begs him to become his tutor. As Hak-sung teaches Ji-woo not just how to find the right answers, but how to navigate the process of problem-solving, both of them experience an unexpected transformation in their lives.

Cast Choi Min-sik as Lee Hak-sung, a school security guard and defector from North Korea Kim Dong-hwi as Han Ji-woo, a student who asks Hak-sung to teach him math Park Byung-eun as Kim Geun-ho, a math teacher Park Hae-joon as An Gi-cheol, agent of the National Intelligence Service who monitors Lee Hak-sung Jo Yun-seo as Park Bo-ram, Ji-woo's classmate Tang Jun-sang as Lee Tae-yeon, Hak-sung's son Kang Mal-geum as Han Ji-woo's mother Kim Hee-jung as Park Bo-ram's mother Joo Jin-mo as Oh Jeong-nam, a mathematician who participated in an international math competition with Hak-sung Kim Won-hae as Park Pil-ju, a North Korean defector and Economics professor

Reception

Box office As of 31 January 2023, the film has a gross of US$4,081,864, and 534,287 admissions.

Accolades

References

External links In Our Prime at the Korean Movie Database (in Korean) In Our Prime at IMDb In Our Prime at HanCinema

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with In Our Prime

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what In Our Prime claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to In Our Prime before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about In Our Prime ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of In Our Prime

In research: In Our Prime appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses In Our Prime in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: In Our Prime is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2020s high school films, 2022 Korean-language films, 2022 South Korean films, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for In Our Prime outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study In Our Prime in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what In Our Prime means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain In Our Prime out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is In Our Prime in simple terms?

Why does In Our Prime matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study In Our Prime?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on In Our Prime.