Math Perfection Achieved

Perfection is possible, and Vincent Lertchareonyong just proved it. The Washington Elementary School sixth-grader aced all five timed tests in the school’s Math Olympiad.

As part of its annual curriculum, the GATE program at Washington for fourth- through sixth-graders studies the International Math Olympiad, a challenge that sees approximately 100,000 children participate worldwide. The kids take one official test per month for five months, with each test containing five math questions, such as: “A bus can hold 24 adults or 30 children. Twenty-five children are already on the bus. What is the largest number of adults that can still get on the bus?” They get from three to five minutes to answer each question.

Answering two or three correctly is considered a “high” score, and getting four out of the five merits the scholar a “highest achievement” honor. Lertchareonyong’s perfect score gives him bragging rights along with only 0.35 percent of those who take the Math Olympiad challenge annually.

For all hoping to match minds with math-savvy 12 year olds (spoiler alert), the answer to that question is four.