Prodigy who built his own maths app
Schoolboy’s homemade server helps him on the way to Ivy League
choolboy genius John McCambridge developed a maths learning app to support fellow pupils – with the help of lego.
John didn’t have enough money to pay professionals to develop his ground-breaking idea.
So he did it himself – including building a computer server held together with old Lego he found under his bed.
A number of commercial companies wanted to buy the finished product, which helps pupils access expert advice and support from each other but John is giving it away free.
PH S Maths now has 3000 registered users and John’s astonishing achievement – plus a string of top exam results – has helped him win a scholarship to a top American Ivy League university.
Last night John, 17, a sixth- year pupil at Plockton High School, described how he worked up to 70 hours a week on his invention. He said: “I built a small server and ran it in my room. Because of funding we couldn’t afford a lot of the most hightech equipment, so I built the server cases out of Lego to support the server and keep the dust off.
“I had it under my bed and it kept the whole thing together.”
John came up with the idea for the app when he was studying for computing and maths Highers, and then Advanced Highers, a year early – to give himself the best chance of a full scholarship to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
He said: “I was talking to my maths teacher about this and said imagine if we could put this in the pockets of everybody.
“Why not have a social network where kids can talk to each another about maths problems and get help?
“The app connects thousands of kids across the country to each other and they have access to hundreds of hand-picked resources.”
He starts in America in September studying computer science, maths, French literature and history.
Now John wants to hand over the app to someone who’ll continue to distribute it free.