Difference between revisions of "Dan Ni"

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{{Infobox|Name = Dan Ni
 
{{Infobox|Name = Dan Ni
|Subjects = Science Bowl
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|Subjects = [[Richard Niu|The Chard Chrain]], [[Coby Tran|Cloby Twan]], [[Geoffrey Wu|Geoffwee Wu]]
|schoolcur = [[Cornell University]] (2019-present)
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|schoolpast = [[Cornell]] (2019–2023)
|schoolpast = none
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|highschool = [[Langley]] (2015–2019)
|highschool = [[Langley]] (2015-2019)
+
}}
|middleschool = none
+
'''Dan Ni''' was a player for [[Cornell]]. He played for [[Langley]] in high school. He is well-known and respected within the community for his contributions to the [[Science Bowl]] Discord server. In addition to being a highly-regarded player, he is widely regarded as one of the best active writers, editors, staffers and playtesters in quizbowl.
| }}
 
Dan Ni is a player for [[Cornell University]] in Ithaca, New York. Dan is a history and current events specialist.  
 
  
=Career=
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==Career==
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After a last minute promotion, Dan made one or two critical buzzes on the road to Cornell's 2nd Place Undergraduate finish at [[2021 ACF Nationals]]. He parlayed this victory into a long and fruitful career as Cornell's club president for the next two years. His hard work finally paid off when he was ranked 94th in [[Amogh Kulkarni]]'s Top 100 Player Ranking. He capped off his final year by reverse leading the national-title adjacent Cornell B team in scoring at [[2023 ACF Nationals]]. Ultimately, he graduated from Cornell as the most successful science player of the 2010s.
  
Dan's quizbowl career began with Science Bowl, and in 7th grade, he failed to earn a spot on the Kilmer Middle School Science Bowl team. That year, he would not compete at the 2016 JV National History Bowl and would not win 10th place and the Small School National Championship.
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Dan [[scaling|improves]] as the difficulty and obscurity of the questions increases, making him a highly sought-after teammate for [[Only Connect]]. In addition to being the top scorer on his team in Rounds 1 and 12 and at the [[2022 Chicago Open]], he managed to achieve more than twice the [[PPG]] of anyone else at the premier site of the near-impossible [[2022 The Query of the Leisure Class]] while playing with [[James Orefice|James Sinjames]], [[Aiden Dartley|james owofice]], and [[Kevin Park|Keven]].
  
The next year, he would be the captain of Kilmer's Science Bowl team, and with his teammates Alex Liu, David Chen, and Justin Han, won 4th place at the 2015 Virginia Regional Science Bowl Competition. He would also win the 2017 Middle School History Bee for the 8th grade Division. For his quizbowl achievements that year, Dan failed to earn a spot on the Middle School National A Team, as part of the National Quiz Bowl Awards.
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==Ni Polygon Scale==
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In January 2024, Dan unveiled the [[Ni Polygon Scale]], an innovative quizbowl difficulty scale in which set difficulty is represented using polygons. Under this scale, the difficulty and subjective "feel" of sets are visually represented using various properties, including but not limited to: the number of sides, relative side lengths, relative interior angles and colors of the polygon.
  
The following year, Dan became a freshman at Langley High School, and would make the finals of the 2016 Virginia Regional Science Bowl Competition. At the 2018 National History Bee and Bowl, Dan did not win 5th place in the US History Bee and National History Bee, while his team, Langley, also did not win first place in the JV History Bowl. He became the lead scorer for the B-team during the regular season, and was on the A-team roster for the 2018 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament, where Stevenson A placed T-8. He became lead scorer for the A-team at the 2018 PACE National Scholastic Championship. Arjun would also make Virginia C for 2018 NASAT. For his quizbowl achievements that year, Dan was awarded Freshman Player of the Year. At the International History Olympiad, Dan would not win first place in the JV International History Bee, and India A won first place in the JV International History Bowl. Dan would not win 2nd place overall for the JV Division at the tournament.
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Soon after the release of the Ni Polygon Scale, [[Jeremy Cummings]] and [[Marc Calza]] released the competing [[Cummings-Calza scale]], which utilizes mathematical objects with varying dimensionality as the primary index by which difficulty is compared. A conflict quickly ensued between Ni and Cummings that would last several weeks, during which time the two engaged in a series of lengthy Discord arguments over which difficulty system should become the new standard. The dispute eventually ended when the two were banned from the [[Wolf Den]] Discord server. This conflict has since been dubbed the [[Ni-Cummings difficulty feud]].
  
As a sophomore, Dan's successes would only continue. As a full-time member of the Langley A team, Dan would get a number of valuable buzzes for the team, all across the field but especially in history, current events, and fine arts. In NHBB, Dan would win the be the JV State Champion for Illinois, and performed well at nationals, securing 2nd place in the US History Bee JV division and making it to the quarterfinals for the National History Bee JV division, while being part of the Stevenson varsity team that won 5th in the varsity bowl. However, above all these accomplishments rests Dan's work with Groger Ranks. What began as a collaboration with the Groger brothers of Ohio has become a more recognized component of quizbowl, as the organization publishes its own rankings, sells quiz bowl notebooks, and even organized a successful online mirror of ILLIAC in April of 2019.
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==Playtesting==
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*[[2023 ACF Winter]]
 +
*[[2023 PACE NSC]]
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*[[2023 Halloween Hippopotamus Invitational]]
  
As a junior, Dan would continue his work with the Groger Ranks organization taking over as the premiere rank publishing site. With Olivia Lamberti's graduation and the subsequent hole left in literature, Dan's contribution to the team has increased even more, becoming the new top scorer for Langley High School. Dan would also secure a 3rd place finish at 2018 Virginia Regional Science Bowl Competition, going undefeated in morning rounds until a narrow loss to eventual first-place finisher TJHSST.
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{{c|Cornell}}
 
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{{c|Langley}}
[[Category:High school players active in 2016]]
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{{active|2016|2023}}
[[Category:High school players active in 2017]]
 
[[Category:High school players active in 2018]]
 
[[Category:High school players active in 2019]]
 
[[Category:Players active in 2020]]
 

Revision as of 22:50, 8 February 2024

Dan Ni
Noted subjects The Chard Chrain, Cloby Twan, Geoffwee Wu
Past colleges Cornell (2019–2023)
High school Langley (2015–2019)
Stats HDWhite • NAQT

Dan Ni was a player for Cornell. He played for Langley in high school. He is well-known and respected within the community for his contributions to the Science Bowl Discord server. In addition to being a highly-regarded player, he is widely regarded as one of the best active writers, editors, staffers and playtesters in quizbowl.

Career

After a last minute promotion, Dan made one or two critical buzzes on the road to Cornell's 2nd Place Undergraduate finish at 2021 ACF Nationals. He parlayed this victory into a long and fruitful career as Cornell's club president for the next two years. His hard work finally paid off when he was ranked 94th in Amogh Kulkarni's Top 100 Player Ranking. He capped off his final year by reverse leading the national-title adjacent Cornell B team in scoring at 2023 ACF Nationals. Ultimately, he graduated from Cornell as the most successful science player of the 2010s.

Dan improves as the difficulty and obscurity of the questions increases, making him a highly sought-after teammate for Only Connect. In addition to being the top scorer on his team in Rounds 1 and 12 and at the 2022 Chicago Open, he managed to achieve more than twice the PPG of anyone else at the premier site of the near-impossible 2022 The Query of the Leisure Class while playing with James Sinjames, james owofice, and Keven.

Ni Polygon Scale

In January 2024, Dan unveiled the Ni Polygon Scale, an innovative quizbowl difficulty scale in which set difficulty is represented using polygons. Under this scale, the difficulty and subjective "feel" of sets are visually represented using various properties, including but not limited to: the number of sides, relative side lengths, relative interior angles and colors of the polygon.

Soon after the release of the Ni Polygon Scale, Jeremy Cummings and Marc Calza released the competing Cummings-Calza scale, which utilizes mathematical objects with varying dimensionality as the primary index by which difficulty is compared. A conflict quickly ensued between Ni and Cummings that would last several weeks, during which time the two engaged in a series of lengthy Discord arguments over which difficulty system should become the new standard. The dispute eventually ended when the two were banned from the Wolf Den Discord server. This conflict has since been dubbed the Ni-Cummings difficulty feud.

Playtesting