Our youth are some of the most gifted individuals we have making major contributions to STEM and 12-year-old Chika Ofili is no different.
The young Nigerian boy — who’s based in the U.K. — made a historical discovery by unearthing a new mathematical formula to make the study of mathematics easier to understand. Ofili was rewarded for his discovery back in November at the TruLittle Hero Awards.
12-year-old British-Nigerian Whizkid, Chika Ofili won the Academic Hero award at the Tru Little Hero Awards for discovering a new Mathematics formula. pic.twitter.com/yxJ0AxOChR
— Africa Facts Zone (@AfricaFactsZone) November 11, 2019
Ofili’s mathematics teacher, Miss Mary Ellis, head of the math department at Westminster Under School, revealed that he made the discovery during a holiday assignment.
Ellis gave Ofili a book called “First Steps for Problem Solvers” to study during the holidays. The book contained several divisibility tests to check if numbers are divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 before completing full math problems. However, Ofili discovered the book didn’t contain a memorable test for dividing by 7.
Ofili’s realization led to him solving this problem by creating a new method. He found that by taking the last digit of any whole number, multiplying it by 5 and then adding this to the remaining part of the number, you’ll get a new number.
Ofili then demonstrated his new formula to the entire school faculty. Miss Ellis even brought in her younger brother, a neutral mathematics guru, to test his theory. Backed with algebraic proof, Ofili’s new formula proved to be successful. Thus making a groundbreaking revelation for the world of mathematics.
Kudos to Miss Ellis and Westminster Under School for shining light on Ofili so that he could get the recognition he deserves.