Article source: Toronto Life
Bruce Arthur Chang, a six-year-old boy from Semont, Quebec, was named Canada's overall champion at the UCMAS Canada national competition in Laval earlier this month.
The competition allows participants to use their minds and abacus to solve addition and subtraction problems.
In eight minutes, students are required to solve 150 equations.
"I've been practicing for four months," says Bruce, who prepares for the challenge every day with his dad – in fact, they practice twice a day as the competition approaches.
The picture comes from the Internet
Chang's father, Arthur Chang, said his son's love of solving equations first began by playing board games that involved cash transactions.
"I owe him $450 and gave him $500, but he can't find the money," Chang said.
This prompted Chang to practice solving equations with his son and to connect with UCMAS.
The organization aims to foster a love of math learning in students. Chang admits that it was difficult at first.
"It was fun because it forced me to repurpose my brain," he said. "In the beginning, I had a hard time completing 150 questions in eight minutes, and he could only complete 20 to 30 questions in eight minutes."
However, over the course of a few weeks of practice, Bruce continued to improve his scores, speed, and accuracy.
Two weeks before the competition, he was finally able to answer all 150 questions.
"We never thought he would win because the competition was very tight," Chang said.
Bruce beat out more than 5,000 kids between the ages of 5 and 13 in a category aimed at UCMAS introductees.
The picture comes from the Internet
The young math player said his favorite part of the challenge was "solving problems very quickly." ”
Chang said his son quickly mastered speed, but the biggest challenge was accuracy, so sometimes he had to slow down.
"But you overcame this, and I'm so proud of you," Chang said to his son.
Now, the six-year-old will compete in an international competition in India in December.
This time, he will answer 300 questions in the same amount of time.
Also this year, the youngest University of Toronto graduate shocked Canada with his excellent results.
Among the thousands of students on the stage of the University of Toronto's commencement ceremony this summer, Honciuc Menendez caught the attention of the campus community.
The international student from Ecuador will receive a magna laude in mathematics and physics later this month.
Despite already impressive, the graduating student will receive another recognition of his success on the day of his graduation – going down in college history.
"I'm 16 years old," the teenager admitted.
The picture comes from the Internet
This makes Honchuk Menendez the youngest graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences since 1979, the year the university began tracking such data.
If you do the math, the answer is yes, which means that the teenager started his post-secondary journey at the age of 12.
He told Global News: "I entered primary school in the UK early when I was four years old, and this was my first 'skipping a grade'. ”
At the age of six, Honchuk Menendez and his single mother returned to Ecuador to apply for advanced programs at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Gifted and Talented Teens.
At the age of 11, he attended a summer course in theoretical physics at Waterloo.
Subsequently, at the age of 12, he graduated from high school and received an acceptance letter and scholarship from the University of Toronto.
"It wasn't until he asked me to write a letter of recommendation that I saw his resume and I realized how special he was," said Ania Harlick, associate professor of physics at the University of Toronto.
During the pandemic, Honchuk Menendez attended his freshman year online. In 2021, he flew to Canada with his mother to continue his studies at school, eventually enrolling in Harrick's classes.
I have to say that the kids are really awesome!