Manor Oaks School fifth grader Christopher Wong and New Hyde Park Road School fifth grader Hridhaan Zahid have been accepted into a competitive mathematics program at the Institute of Creative Problem Solving for Gifted and Talented Students at Stony Brook University.
Each year, more than 500 outstanding students are nominated on Long Island for 84 available spots in the program. Selection by the Institute implies that a student is among the top one-tenth of one percent of all students in mathematics on Long Island in his or her grade. Acceptance is based an entrance exam, a recommendation from the student's math teacher and a school transcript or report card.
Christopher and Hridhaan will begin classes in September, spending 60 hours in class and on related outside projects. They will learn about mathematical topics such as algebra, geometry and number theory, as well as others not included in the standard courses of study, like problem-solving applied to probability, theory of finite differences, and mass point geometry. Additionally, selected applications of mathematics taken from science and engineering are presented and discussed.