User:PhireKaLk6781

PhireKaLk6781 (previously r15s11z55y89w21, also moednoegtblaezaerd) is a user and moderator on Art of Problem Solving since 30 October 2008 (PhireKaLk6781 account made 12 September 2009). He is from Fremont, California where he went to Mission San Jose High School, and afterwards attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Pronunciation and Capitalization

PhireKaLk6781 is both frequently mispronounced and frequently miscapitalized. "PhireKaLk" is pronounced fī-RĒ-kălk, as in recalculating the golden ratio , the hardest irrational number to rationally approximate. It is also spelled with a capital P, capital first K, capital L, and lowercase second k (the last two of which are accidentally swapped by nearly everyone). The L is capitalized so that no one could make an impersonating account with a capital I instead of a lowercase l. It also looks nice.

Moderatorship

In January 2010, PhireKaLk6781 became a moderator, his first fora he moderated being Games and the Fun Factory. In March 2010, he joined the Moderator Lounge, and was one of only two AoPS users under age 18 to be a member of the Moderator Lounge upon AoPS's 19 April 2010 transition (the other user being Dojo). PhireKaLk6781 currently moderates High School Basics, High School Intermediate Topics, Music & Art, Games, Fun Factory, FTW Problems Discussion, and FTW Other Stuff, and has formerly moderated Middle School Classroom Math and Middle School Contests. He is also a moderator on FTW.

FTW

The highest rating PhireKaLk6781 attained on FTW was 1815. r15s11z55y89w21 entered two of the overall leaderboards in the old FTW. PhireKaLk6781 developed the formula for calculating composite scoring, which was implemented in the new FTW.

Alcumus

PhireKaLk6781 contributed the idea for the "Slayer" badge on Alcumus, although its name was changed from his suggested "Bull's Eye." On Alcumus, PhireKaLk6781 has a combined level of 78 and 103 quests and honors completed, with 29730 AoPS Karma as of 04 November 2012.

Games

A renowned games moderator, PhireKaLk6781 hosted over 20 forum games on AoPS. Some of the most popular include Greed Control, Dott Warz, NerdQuest, Permutia, Achievement Evaded, and Arpeggiactorial.

Blog

PhireKaLk6781 keeps a blog, Skybeam, that as of 04 November 2012 has 1317 entries, 108453 visits, 7100 comments, and 1059 shouts.

Trivia

• The high school PhireKaLk6781 went to, Mission San Jose High School, is also the high school of numerous other AoPSers, including james4l, dragon96, randomguy64, ak909090, aznphatso, bowei, Nerd_of_the_Ages, aboojiga, nancyxu97, and slayer42.
• Unlike almost all AoPS moderators, PhireKaLk6781 never moderated the Test Forum.
• PhireKaLk6781's game Harmonic Blackjack received 29610 submissions from Round 6 (especially ironic because he changed the conditions for Round 6 in such a way as to try to reduce number of submissions), requiring 21 posts to publish the round results due to the limitations of the number of characters allowed in a post, only the second instance of a game update requiring more than one post (the first being a round in james4l's Research Complete).