KZN's Aaron Naidu is the star of the South African Tertiary Mathematics Olympiad
Aaron Naidu, a 19-year-old UKZN student, took the number one spot at the South African Tertiary Mathematics Olympiad. Well done, sir!
We love positive and uplifting stories when it comes to the youth. It gives us a reason to celebrate and it recognises the talent that is emerging from our amazing province.
Aaron Naidu is not just someone with a bright future but he also has a world of knowledge when it comes to applying sense to something that he is passionate about. He is a second year student of BSc in data science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
This was the second win for Aaron as he won in 2019, but it was his third time entering, as last year he came second. But the UKZN student calmly shared his secret for winning when he said that it amounted to understanding mathematical concepts rather than just memorising formulae and procedures.
It tests mathematical problem-solving skills by asking questions that require unusual or creative solutions, making it harder to prepare for than regular tests that tend to ask similar questions every year. It consists of 20 short answer questions which participants must attempt in two hours. Normally the paper is written at the universities but, last year and this year, it was done fully online.
Aaron confirmed that his study choice was based on the fact that he could merge his passion of mathematics and computer programming together, and consequently use this to solve challenging real-world problems that interest him.
"Naidu said the reason why some student found maths challenging was because too many students tried to learn the formulae needed for a test and how to apply them instead of focussing on where the formulae come from and why we do things the way we do.
"Aside from that, I think that it is important to work and practice consistently throughout the year rather than trying to cram in the week before the exam.” (IOL)
Image Courtesy of Facebook