Greshin Rakesh, a Grade 3 kid from Hyderabad, Telangana, has won the coveted National Arithmetic Championship, a speed math competition run by Neelakantha Bhanu, the World’s Fastest Human Calculator, in an incredible demonstration of mathematical skill.

More than 6,000 students from 750 locations in India competed for the top slot, demonstrating the tremendous response to the competition.  Only 300 candidates advanced to the final round after a demanding two-round selection procedure when Greshin Rakesh demonstrated his extraordinary abilities by accurately answering more than 150 questions in the allotted time.

Greshin said, “I was so happy when the results were announced,” expressing his joy.  Although I was aware that I had done well, I never thought I would win.  Using the Bhanzu Play App, I routinely practiced and went over the recordings of each session.  My confidence in arithmetic has significantly increased as a result of this competition.  The second round, when the task became more difficult and each question had to be answered in 30 seconds, was very enjoyable to him.

Greshin’s mother, Dr. Rekha, expressed her happiness, saying, “We were overjoyed to learn that our son had won the tournament. We were really pleased, particularly because Mr. Neelakantha Bhanu, the World’s Fastest Human Calculator, acknowledged it.  Additionally, we appreciate Bhanzu for setting up such a seamless and well-thought-out tournament.”

The contest, which was organized by Bhanzu, a worldwide math learning platform that Neelakantha Bhanu created, put kids’ exceptional problem-solving skills to the test.  Contestants answered more than 45,000 of the 180,000 questions in the final round alone.  By boosting their confidence in mathematics and helping them to answer problems up to four times quicker, Bhanzu seeks to empower pupils.

Developing the next generation of math champions

Neelakantha Bhanu, who represented India with a gold medal at the 2020 Mental Calculation World Championship, gave the young competitors high marks for their performance:

“Champions are created by endless hours of practice; they are not born.  The National Arithmetic Championship finalists compete with speed and accuracy, making them no less than athletes.  Although the tournament was supposed to last a week, these children finished the tasks in a matter of minutes.  Within milliseconds, over 100 pupils in every grade were deadlocked.  We are molding young brains to develop unmatched math confidence via this tournament.”

Through these programs, Bhanzu is transforming math education in India and demonstrating to young students that math can be entertaining, interesting, and powerful.