Johannesburg- Emmanual Rassou (17) a Grade 12 learner from the South African College High School in Cape Town, became 2021’s Best Young Mathematician after winning the South African Mathematics Olympiad last year.
The annual competition is organized by the South African Mathematics Foundation and involves 10 000 learners.
The learners participating are from around the country and take part in three separate rounds, with a final four-hour paper which determines the senior winner for grades 10-12.
Speaking to Sunday World Emmanual tells us about his plans for his matric year, what he hopes to achieve and how it feels to be one of the best mathematicians in the country.
Grade 12 is a very hectic and intense year for any pupil in their high school life and the young mathematician plans to excel in his studies this year to achieve his dreams.
“I believe that planning and doing things on time will help me to achieve the results I hope to achieve at the end of this year. I need to make sure that procrastination is not an option at all,” he said.
Although Emmanual has just started his matric he doesn’t know exactly what career he will possibly pursue after completing his matric year.
“After Matric my plan is to study something maths and science-related because my interest is mostly in those two subjects which I enjoy a lot.”
“Since I live in Cape Town I really hope to secure a space in one of the Universities here so my wish is to get into UCT or Stellenbosch University,” he tells us.
The young mathematics genius said he feels very blessed to have won the national mathematics olympiad, and hopes he will be able to defend his title this year.
Emmanual winning in the maths olympiad last year was not the first time he had achieved this. He won the South African Junior Maths Olympiad in 2018, shortly after he had lost his mother, and also won the junior title in 2019.
“I’m not the only maths lover at home, my younger brothers, Noah and Adam have also made the top 10 in the Primary Maths Olympiad.”
For anyone who wishes to do well in mathematics, Emmanual believes that one needs to practice a lot, learn from your mistakes and use past exam papers.
“I believe everyone has the ability to do maths, you just need to believe in yourself and be confident in your ability in maths. You need to be flexible and try and see problems in different ways,” he concluded.
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