WATERLOO — As a young boy in Grade 1, Alex Song aced Grade 5 math.
By the end of Grade 6, he had solved his way through many high school math courses.
As a soon-to-be Grade 10 student at a private American high school, the Waterloo teen is now tackling university-level calculus and getting A’s.
And if that wasn’t enough, the 15-year-old math genius is ranked fourth in the world in mathematics, winning a gold medal.
At the International Mathematical Olympiad in Argentina this month — the world championships when it comes to math — Song was part of a Canadian team of six high school students. They were among 548 students from around the world competing against each other.
The competition involved six questions completed over two days. Song had 4½ hours to finish three questions. He scored 38 out of 42, scoring perfect on five questions but stumped by one on logical deduction.
“There were some difficulties,” said a modest Song, who is home for the summer to spend time with his parents.
“We knew he was good, but we didn’t know he was top of the world,” said his mother, Jessica.
In September, Chinese-born Song returns to the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, a boarding school in the United States. The course load is heavy with math but also arts and sciences.
“It’s much more a challenge,” said Song, who attended a local public school until Grade 6, then moved to private schools.
In New Hampshire, he averages four hours of homework a night.
Edward Wang, a family friend and retired math professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, expects Song will return to the international competition next year and get a perfect score.
“Alex has already broken a record. He’s the youngest Canadian ever to win a gold medal,” he said.
“He’s very smart and a top-notch chess player,” said Wang, who can never win when playing against Song.
Wang said he recalls giving an oral IQ test in solving problems to Song when he was in Grade 2, because he knew more math than his teachers.
“I realized he was talented,” said Wang who became his mentor and introduced him to math competitions as a young boy. Song participated in a math training camp at Laurier at the age of 11.
Wang said the questions in the international competition are sophisticated and the level of difficulty surpasses what he and most his PhD colleagues could handle.
“I wouldn’t be able to do it. I guarantee you that not one of my colleagues could solve it,” he said.