Glasgow maths whiz Advik Mittal has become the youngest person in the UK to complete a national programme, recognised as one of the most advanced mental arithmetic programmes in the country.
The St Patrick’s Primary School pupil completed the British Youth International College (BYITC) Supermaths National Abacus Maths programme which involves addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, percentage, fractions, decimal arithmetic as well as Abacus maths concepts.
The eight-year-old has also been selected to represent Scotland in the under 12s category at the forthcoming Liverpool Quadrangular International Chess Tournament.
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Advik, who joined the BYITC programme at just five-years-old, said: “I am pleased that I am the youngest person in the UK to complete the mental maths programme.
“I have enjoyed it all. The teachers are very nice and friendly and help you a lot, and I’m sure that learning Abacus mental maths has also helped me improve my abilities as a chess player.”
Sachin Mittal, Advik’s father, added: “Advik started playing with numbers and oved them.
“He can calculate large sums rapidly in his head without the use of a calculator and this has greatly helped his ability to learn more about numbers and develop his analytical thinking skills.
“We are very grateful to Dr Rashmi Mantri and her colleagues at BYITC for providing this brilliant opportunity for Advik to advance his knowledge and understanding of numbers I have no doubt at all that it has helped achieve success, also in chess.”
The programme has 11 levels, each of which runs for three months. Those enrolled are supervised by a certified teacher in the courses, which are considered suitable for the UK’s school curriculum.
BYITC’s founder, Dr Rashmi Mantri, said: “We know that working on arithmetic problems alone can be monotonous, so we have introduced a competitive element so that students can improve their analytical skills in a more dynamic way.
“We have been delighted by Advik’s progress throughout the programme and anticipate that he will now go onto further explore his love of numbers by developing yet more sophisticated mathematical skills.
“Our overall aim is to find the next generation of mathematics prodigies, to kindle their competitive spirit, and to nurture their true potential.”
Children in the programme are taught to calculate sums by visualising an Abacus board and use their fingers to manipulate imaginary beads. This not only helps them to fast mental arithmetic, but also stimulates cognitive development, improves memory and focus, and develops problem-solving skills.
As for Advik’s chess abilities, he made his international debut when he represented Scotland in the World Cadets Chess Championships in Batumi, Georgia earlier this year. Here, 800 youngsters from over 70 countries participated across different categories.
The pupil secured 4 draws and 2 wins against some of the best young players across the world, with some of his games lasting for more than three and a half hours.
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