Whizz-kid wins bronze at global Olympiad
A CAPE Town maths whizz – competing against participants from 100 countries – has earned a medal at the 56th International Mathematical Olympiad in Thailand this month.
Yaseen Mowzer, a Grade 11 pupil at Fairbairn College in Goodwood, received a bronze medal and his teammates Bronson Rudner from the South African College High School (SACS) and Andrew McGregor from Rondebosch Boys’ High received honourable mentions for “solving one problem completely”.
The South African team was ranked 55th, an improvement of nine positions compared with last year.
Five of the six members of the SA team were from Cape Town.
The other team members were Sanjiv Ranchod and David Broodryk from Westerford High and Nicholas Kroon from St Andrew’s College in Grahamstown.
The team from the US took top spot while China was second.
Rudner, Mowzer and Ranchod also represented South Africa at last year’s competition.
In an interview with the Cape Argus earlier this year Mowzer said last year’s compe- tition “was a very nice experience”, adding that he had learnt that although the paper is four-and-a-half hours long, you have to manage your time effectively.
He said his parents had instilled a love of maths in him from a young age.
Two years ago he also participated in the Pan African Mathematics Olympiad in Nigeria and last year he won a silver medal at the SA Programming Olympiad.
Mowzer said he hoped to study maths and computer science at UCT.
The team is expected to arrive home tomorrow.