Rotorua student achieves at international math Olympiad

Ishan Nath, 15, has returned from the International Mathematical Olympiad happy with his efforts but with a goal of doing even better next year.

A John Paul College student, Ishan was one of only six Kiwis selected to represent the country at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Romania last month. The competition saw students from more than 100 countries compete to solve six difficult maths problems over two days.

They were given four and a half hours to solve three problems each day. Each problem was worth seven points.

Before he went Ishan was hoping to solve two of the six problems and he succeeded.

"They are tough problems. They are not easy by any standard. I got 18 out of 42 which may sound bad but that's in the top 50 per cent of competitors."

John Paul College student Ishan Nath has returned from the International Mathematical Olympiad in Romania. Photo / Ben Fraser

Each of the six students from New Zealand competed individually but their scores were added together to make a team score. The event was held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Ishan said one of the things he liked about the competition was being with other like-minded people.

There were about 600 people in the competition.

"I enjoyed it not for the competition but more for the niche culture that goes on there. There were so many smart kids from around the world."

Ishan hoped to return to the international olympiad next year and do better.

During the olympiad, students also heard from former olympiad gold medallists Ciprian Manolescu (UCLA) and Victor Nistor (Universite de Lorraine).

The team
• Andrew Chen (Saint Kentigern College)
• William Han (Macleans College)
• Johnathan Leung (King's College)
• Keiran Lewellen (Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu)
• Ishan Nath (John Paul College)
• Xutong Wang (Auckland International College).