The secret about the math prodigy who participated in the Math Olympiad... 5 times

Canadian math prodigy Warren Bei (born 2008) is one of the contestants who left a strong mark in the history of the International Mathematical Olympiad. Bei first participated in this competition in 2021 and won a silver medal, when he was only 13 years old.

In 2022 and 2023, Bei continued to be a member of the Canadian delegation to the competition and won gold medals. In 2024, Bei won a silver medal. In this year's competition, Bei had a breakthrough, winning a gold medal and achieving a perfect score of 42/42, completely solving all 6 problems given in the exam.

Each year, only a small number of contestants in the International Mathematical Olympiad achieve a perfect score of 42/42. Warren Bei is among the youngest contestants ever to participate in the International Mathematical Olympiad. He is also among the group of contestants who have achieved the highest results in this competition.

At the age of 17, Bei has just received an early admission letter from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), one of the world's leading prestigious universities in the field of science and technology training.

Recognized as a potential math prodigy, the male student of Rockridge Secondary School (Canada) lives a very private life. Bei rarely grants interviews. In a rare conversation with the Canadian Mathematicians' Society (CMS), he shared many interesting things about himself.

Throughout Bei’s learning journey since he was a child, he has participated in many national and international math competitions. Bei finds difficult math problems very interesting, so for him, competitions always bring joy and excitement.

The thought of coming to the competition and receiving interesting problems always makes him extremely excited. Bei said he can stay in a state of excitement for hours while absorbed in thinking about difficult problems.

Bei's participation in many math competitions began when he was a child. At that time, Bei liked reading science books and playing games that required high logical thinking. One day, his parents decided to challenge his math skills, so they registered him for a small competition. Bei's results in this competition were very good, and since then he has been excited to participate in math competitions at all levels.

When faced with difficult problems, Bei said he always tells himself that the feeling of difficulty in finding a solution is just a subjective assessment. A problem only becomes truly difficult if the solver has absolutely no idea how to solve it.

For Bei, to solve difficult problems or overcome other difficult challenges, she always relies on intuition to get initial ideas, then tries to approach from different perspectives.

Besides mathematics, Bei said he is also very interested in physics and computer science, because the problem-solving thinking of these two subjects is quite similar to mathematics.

In a world that is changing rapidly, Bei is open to all possibilities about where she wants to go in the future. She believes that being flexible when thinking about her future goals is the most effective way to move forward.

Currently, Bei thinks that studying mathematics and computer science at university would be the best choice for him. Whether or not he pursues further research is still open to him.

Participating in many national and international math competitions helps Bei maintain his creative thinking and curiosity in learning. The competitions introduce him to new mathematical knowledge, teach him problem-solving skills, and create opportunities for him to make friends with similar passions.

Bei's advice to teenagers who are also passionate about mathematics is: "Behind every seemingly simple solution, there are hidden insights. It is these insights that make the solution clear, coherent and obvious."

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/bi-mat-ve-than-dong-toan-hoc-di-thi-olympic-toan-toi-5-lan-20250819090400008.htm