Bengaluru-based 18-year-old Pranjal Srivastava has won three gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) held in Oslo on July 11 and 12, 2022.
In the 63-year history of IMO, only 11 people have won more medals than him. Pranjal’s name appears in the IMO hall-of-fame.
“My family noticed my inclination towards maths right from class 1. Not just did I get to read the most interesting books on this subject but also had a lot of fun conversations about it. My father told me interesting stories, while my mother and grandfather would tell me about the beauty of math in geometry,” he told indianexpress.com.
Pranjal is the younger child of software professionals Ashish and Surbhi Srivastava.
Pranjal won this year’s International Mathematical Olympiad with a total of 34. He achieved the gold medal first in 2019 scoring 35, then in 2021 he scored 31. India did not participate in IMO in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. His winning streak started in 2018 when he earned a silver medal.
Srivastava is part of many forums, clubs and organisations which helps him keep himself updated. He does not need to put efforts in the traditional form of studies.
The boy believes that it is the most amazing subject. “There is a myth that discourages most students. They feel Math is about big numbers and complex calculations. This is misleading. The teaching methods, unfortunately, do not help either. Calculations may be necessary for succeeding in many entrance exams, but they are a minuscule part of mathematics. Some of the greatest mathematicians, including Einstein, have been poor in calculations,” he said while talking about his love for the subject.
Pranjal also loves competitive and algorithmic programming, and has also earned a silver medal in the International Informatics Olympiad. He further wants to stydy mathematical computer science in his undergraduate programme. He is slated to study an undergraduate course at MIT, which will give him a combination of Math and computer science.
Pranjal also loves Chess and the strategic game of GO. He has also represented India in the 2021 South Korea Prime Minister Cup. In addition to these, he is also trained in classical music, both Indian and Western.
The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is the World Championship Mathematics Competition for High School students and is held annually in a different country. While the first IMO was held in 1959 in Romania, the 2022 IMO took place in Oslo. Apart from Pranjal, Arjun Gupta, Atul Shatavart Nadig, Vedant Saini, Kaustuv Mishra and Aditya won the Bronze medal from India.
SOurce: The Indian Express
