The name Alex Song is spoken in reverential tones inCanadian mathematical circles.
The 18-year-old won the International Mathematical Olympiad inThailand in mid-July, achieving the rare perfect score in thetwo-day competition against more than 600 high school competitorsfrom 104 countries.
Song has had an incredible run over the past six years, finishingwith five gold medals and one bronze against the best in the world.Now he sits atop the all-time leaderboard, ranking first on theOlympiad's Hall of Fame.
The Olympiad is a big deal in math. Previous participants havegone on to win prestigious international awards such as the FieldsMedal, given out to a few mathematicians under 40 years old, everyfour years. It's considered by many asthe highest honour inmathematics.
For Song, the Olympiad win wasn't that big of a deal.
"I was definitely very happy at the same time," he says. "But,I mean, it was just whatever happened."
Song just graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, an eliteacademic boarding school in New Hampshire. He is modest about hisachievement.
"I felt like I was very lucky to solve all the problems, but atthe same I'm not sure if any of the problems gave me trouble," hesaid from his parents' home in San Jose, Calif. He grew up inWaterloo, Ont., until moving to New Hampshire to start high schoolin 2011.
His coachJacob Tsimerman,leader of Math Team Canada, made up for Song'snonchalance.
"The results are fantastic," said a jubilant Tsimerman, amath professor at the University of Toronto. "Alex is unique anddestined for greatness."
The United States took first overall in the team competition,which was established in 1959.
Canada finished ninth overall, ending up in the Top 10 for thethird time in the past four years. It's a big change from theprevious 30 years when Canada regularly found itself finishing amongthe top 20 or 30 countries.
Tsimerman said the team decided to change the way it coached its"mathletes."
Rather than use older professors removed from the math Olympiadscene, the Canadian Mathematical Society choseto use more recentgraduates of the program, Tsimerman said. Some of the country'sheavy hitters in the Olympiad returned to coach.
Tsimerman is one of those heavy hitters, finishing first in the competition in 2004. Another coach, James Rickards, competed just two years ago and is now a student at Cambridge University, Tsimerman said.
Before the competition, the six-member team assembled at theBanff International Research Station for two weeks of intensivetraining. The team buckled down with a mock exam, lectures and lotsof practice.
The International Mathematical Olympiad features six questionsover two days. There are three questions on the first day for morethan four hours of competition, then the same on the second day.
"The middle questions on each day were very difficult,"Tsimerman said.
"This year, even if you did solve them both, there wasn't muchtime left over to solve the final questions on each day,so you sawmuch fewer people solving those because they didn't have the time."
But Song was in the zone, cruising on both days, finishing withan hour to spare on Day 1 and 30 minutes the next.
He kept celebrations to a minimum.
"I didn't do too much -- it was Thailand. We mostly just stayedin the hotel, talked to the other teams, played some games with themand went on some excursions."
The champ will start his collegiate career at PrincetonUniversity next month. He said he hopes to focus on pure mathematicsand "needs to get prepared for mathematical research."
Tsimerman said Canadians should remember Song's name.
"He is destined for greatness," Tsimerman said. "But let's notforget he's already achieved greatness in his short career."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/waterloo-math-whiz-wins-international-competition-for-high-school-students-1.3169559?cmp=rss
The 18-year-old won the International Mathematical Olympiad inThailand in mid-July, achieving the rare perfect score in thetwo-day competition against more than 600 high school competitorsfrom 104 countries.
Song has had an incredible run over the past six years, finishingwith five gold medals and one bronze against the best in the world.Now he sits atop the all-time leaderboard, ranking first on theOlympiad's Hall of Fame.
The Olympiad is a big deal in math. Previous participants havegone on to win prestigious international awards such as the FieldsMedal, given out to a few mathematicians under 40 years old, everyfour years. It's considered by many asthe highest honour inmathematics.
For Song, the Olympiad win wasn't that big of a deal.
"I was definitely very happy at the same time," he says. "But,I mean, it was just whatever happened."
Song just graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, an eliteacademic boarding school in New Hampshire. He is modest about hisachievement.
"I felt like I was very lucky to solve all the problems, but atthe same I'm not sure if any of the problems gave me trouble," hesaid from his parents' home in San Jose, Calif. He grew up inWaterloo, Ont., until moving to New Hampshire to start high schoolin 2011.
His coachJacob Tsimerman,leader of Math Team Canada, made up for Song'snonchalance.
"The results are fantastic," said a jubilant Tsimerman, amath professor at the University of Toronto. "Alex is unique anddestined for greatness."
The United States took first overall in the team competition,which was established in 1959.
Canada finished ninth overall, ending up in the Top 10 for thethird time in the past four years. It's a big change from theprevious 30 years when Canada regularly found itself finishing amongthe top 20 or 30 countries.
Tsimerman said the team decided to change the way it coached its"mathletes."
Rather than use older professors removed from the math Olympiadscene, the Canadian Mathematical Society choseto use more recentgraduates of the program, Tsimerman said. Some of the country'sheavy hitters in the Olympiad returned to coach.
Tsimerman is one of those heavy hitters, finishing first in the competition in 2004. Another coach, James Rickards, competed just two years ago and is now a student at Cambridge University, Tsimerman said.
Before the competition, the six-member team assembled at theBanff International Research Station for two weeks of intensivetraining. The team buckled down with a mock exam, lectures and lotsof practice.
The International Mathematical Olympiad features six questionsover two days. There are three questions on the first day for morethan four hours of competition, then the same on the second day.
"The middle questions on each day were very difficult,"Tsimerman said.
"This year, even if you did solve them both, there wasn't muchtime left over to solve the final questions on each day,so you sawmuch fewer people solving those because they didn't have the time."
But Song was in the zone, cruising on both days, finishing withan hour to spare on Day 1 and 30 minutes the next.
He kept celebrations to a minimum.
"I didn't do too much -- it was Thailand. We mostly just stayedin the hotel, talked to the other teams, played some games with themand went on some excursions."
The champ will start his collegiate career at PrincetonUniversity next month. He said he hopes to focus on pure mathematicsand "needs to get prepared for mathematical research."
Tsimerman said Canadians should remember Song's name.
"He is destined for greatness," Tsimerman said. "But let's notforget he's already achieved greatness in his short career."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/waterloo-math-whiz-wins-international-competition-for-high-school-students-1.3169559?cmp=rss