A BUDDING mathematician has showcased his expertise with numbers, placing inside the 100 in a national Year 11 challenge.
Nelson Wong from UTC Reading, received a bronze medal for his achievements in the Intermediate Maths Olympiad last month.
Around 1,000 students took part in the competition, all of whom qualified via the initial Intermediate Maths Challenge – a 60-minute, multiple-choice test that encourages ‘mathematical reasoning, precision of thought and fluency in mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems’.
The Olympiad is a two-hour paper featuring six challenging questions. Alongside Nelson, Kaan Ozarikan also qualified for this final, doing brilliantly and earning a certificate of merit.
Maths teacher Lewis Hart said: “There are several excellent mathematicians in Year 11, many of whom are well on track for a grade 9 in their GCSEs.
“Kaan and Nelson are two of these students, who are continuously working hard to extend and broaden their mathematical skills and knowledge, particularly in problem solving and logical reasoning, which is tested to its limit in the Maths Olympiad.
“I’m very proud of these students as they’re not content to settle with relying on natural talent to be just good at maths, but have worked hard to become absolutely brilliant at maths.
“They also keep me on my toes as a maths teacher, as they’re often asking questions that challenge my own subject knowledge.”
