Maths Wizard at 16 _ No TV but Loads of Books
By NICHOLS, Lane
HE IS being hailed as a boy genius — a maths wizard who has leap- frogged his way through secondary school and is now off to university years before he is due.
But then 16-year-old Henry Macdonald is far from ordinary. He studied American politics at primary school and considers the history of Western philosophy recreational reading.
Though he still has two years of high school left, he has just blitzed older pupils at his school to become dux of Wellington’s St Patrick’s College and is off to Victoria University next year after winning a $4000 scholarship for academic excellence.
His father, Charles Macdonald, puts his son’s intelligence down to having loads of books when growing up and no television. “He never wasted time watching TV because it wasn’t an option.”
While regular human beings might struggle with basic numerical concepts like fractions and prime numbers, Henry is brushing up on complex mathematical theories like matroids and Fermat’s Last Theorem. He is also a keen guitarist and vegetarian.
“I don’t really have much of a social life,” he says, and is prepared for being the odd man out on campus.
“Of course I’m going to be slightly ostracised, but who isn’t different in some way?”
He cares not about the All Blacks and says the closest he gets to playing sport is debating.
His dream is to become a “pure mathematician” and to practise the “creative side” of maths — though he concedes the type of numbers he enjoys crunching have little application in the real world.
“The maths I like is not going to find a cure for cancer.”
He plans to do post-graduate studies in the United States after finishing his BA at Victoria and hopes eventually to work in academia.
But how does he feel about dropping out of high school?
“I don’t really mind. School just seems to me like jumping through hoops. Once you’ve got through them, there’s no point reminiscing about it.”
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(c) 2007 Dominion Post. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.