Salar Ravangouy, who is part of the ICS Class of 2021, was born in Spain to Iranian parents, and he started at International College Spain when he was four years old. He is a mathematical phenomenon with his recent achievement of coming 40th in the top 100 mathematical minds of the world.
The annual Mental Math International Championship is a Mathematics competition for students aged between 6 and 15. Students in different year groups participate in one of nine different competition categories depending on their age. The competition promotes interest in mental mathematics and develops skills in number and mental calculations. The competition aims at discovering and celebrating talent in mental mathematics.
Salar tells us how it all started, explaining “I was interested in numbers and mathematical symbols as a small child. At age two, I already learned how to add and subtract. At age four, I got into multiplying. At age five, I had already learned how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Also at age five, I got very interested in calendars and how they worked, and about at age six or seven, I could guess what day of the week any day of the year fell on.”
“Since I was a child, I have loved mathematical challenges and always wanting to be ambitious, that’s why I tried the SuperTMatik Competition. In Grade 5 we started learning how the game worked, and in Grade 6 we did class competitions where the best two out of the grade would try an online challenge against the rest of the world. I passed and, a few days later, took the final challenge.”
“On the last day of the academic year, at the annual Award Ceremony, I was mentioned to have got 40th out of the world in the competition. I am really proud of what I have achieved and I still look forward to more challenges.”