Our ongoing search for the Smartest Kid in Colorado has brought us to a Fairview High School senior, who is one of the best young mathematicians in the U.S.
Kevin Wang, 17, is heading to Atlanta, Georgia this weekend. He's one of 10 students selected to compete in the American Mathematical Society's "Who Wants to be a Mathematician?" contest.
Kevin had a lot of competition to beat, including fellow members of the Fairview High math club he is a part of.
By the way, Kevin gave Kyle a math test. Check it out in that video above.
"I just happened to tie with one of the juniors, and since I was older they let me go to the national competition," said Wang. "There are a lot of talented people in Colorado. I was pretty surprised when I got in, to be honest."
Wang has been competitively doing math since he was a sixth grader, so he was ready.
"In sixth grade, my mom told me about one of the middle school math competitions, and I was like okay. So I've always been decent at math... So that first year I did pretty well for like a sixth grader who hadn't had any previous experience, and like after that I started practicing a bit more. I just started doing more problems and I ended up getting better, so I just kind of stuck with it," he said.
The winner of the competition Saturday will get a $10,000 prize; $5,000 will go to his school, and the other $5,000 will be his to spend.
If Kevin wins, he plans on donating some of the money.
"I think I'd donate it to Colorado Math Circle. It's one of the things I've been doing for awhile and that's helped me a lot with math competitions," Kevin said. "I learned a lot from the math circle and I guess that turned me into the mathematician I am now."
He also wants to have a little fun. If he wins the prize money he also wants to buy himself some tickets to a basketball game.
You can watch a live stream of the competition here. It begins at 11 a.m. and goes until 12:30 p.m. MST.
After high school, Wang plans on studying computer science at Carnegie Mellon University.
We're still on the lookout for more of the smartest kids in Colorado. If you know one of those, send an email to next@9news.com or get our attention with #HeyNext.
