Ishan Nath won a gold medal at the 2020 International Mathematical Olympiad. Photo / Andrew Warner
Ishan Nath won a gold medal at the 2020 International Mathematical Olympiad. Photo / Andrew Warner
For much of the population, the thought of tackling complicated maths problems is shudder-inducing.
For John Paul College student Ishan Nath, it is a challenge to be relished.
Last week, 18-year-old Ishan represented New Zealand in the 2020 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).
It was his third year competing in the event and after claiming consecutive bronze medals in 2018 and 2019, he made the breakthrough to win the New Zealand team's only gold with a score of 35 out of 42.
Ishan said he was proud of his achievement which was the result of many year's practice.
"I was pretty excited. I didn't do as much practice as I would have liked leading up to this one, but I have done a lot over the last three years.
"I think with enough practice you have enough intuition to either know what you're doing on a problem or you're able to work it out. I don't think you can naturally be good at them, you have to put the practice in.
"Even if I had some sort of advantage as a kid, I still had to practise to get to the level I am now."
He said he enjoyed the challenge of thinking about and solving problems and hoped to study mathematics or physics after high school.
In 2018, the IMO was held in Romania and last year it was in England. This year the competition was set to be held in Russia but Covid-19 meant it had to be completed online. Ishan travelled to Christchurch to compete alongside his New Zealand teammates.
Ishan's father Jisu Nath said he and his wife realised their son had a talent for mathematics when he was about 6 or 7 as he often got bored with the work being assigned in his school classes.
Some of the problems Ishan Nath tackled in the 2020 International Mathematical Olympiad. Photo / Supplied
"When he was young we found out he was very good at maths back in the UK. When we came here he started taking part in competitions for mathematics at primary and secondary school. Then it went beyond national and national to the international competition.
"He did well at school and was showing skills that he could do even more bigger challenges for advanced classes. He would get easily bored with his maths class because he already knew those things."
Nath said he and his wife Jaya were "very proud" of their son.
"While it was us who encouraged him to apply for the IMO he started showing interest himself once he got into it. We're really happy for him, it's very good for him and the school and the New Zealand team."
He said Ishan would like to study mathematics at university and had considered going overseas to do so, but it was hard to say now with the current Covid-19 situation.
