It's pretty obvious that John Green (and by extension, Colin Singleton) is not a mathematician. I, however,
am a mathematician. And if one decides to write a book where the main character uses 'complicated math formulae' to analyze his breakups, the math had better actually be complicated. Last time I checked, quadratic equations are Grade 10 math material. If that's complicated math, then your 16-year-old child is the next Euler for figuring out the derivative of a single-variable polynomial. How did the 'brilliant' Colin Singleton not create his equation in under 30 seconds?