Sweden: Iraqi-Swede teen solves Bernoulli math puzzle

Sweden: Iraqi-Swede teen solves Bernoulli math puzzle


A 16-year-old Iraqi immigrant living in central Sweden has figured out a formula that has challenged great mathematicial minds for 300 hundred years, earning him praise from professors at prestigious Uppsala University.


Mohamed Altoumaimi, who moved with his family to Sweden six years ago, is a first year student at the Falu Frigymnasium high school in Falun in central Sweden.


Long interested in mathematics, Altoumaimi has spent the last four months toiling over his notebook in an attempt to write a formula to explain the calculation of Bernoulli numbers.


The numbers are named for the 17th century Swiss mathematician Jacob Bernoulli and consist of a sequence of rational numbers which are important for number theory.


Needless to say, Altoumaimi's teachers were more than sceptical when he showed up to school recently claiming he had come up with a formula.


"When I first presented it to my teachers, none of them believed that the formula I had written down really worked," he told the Falu Kuriren newspaper.


Undeterred by the doubts of his teachers, Altoumaimi decided to contact professors at Uppsala University in hopes they would validate his work.


"Right away they wanted to take a look at all my calculations and the documents where I show that the formula really works," said Altoumaimi.


While it's not the first time that someone has come up with a formula for Bernoulli numbers, it's highly unusual for a first year high school student to make his way through the complicated calculations.


After verifying the calculations, Uppsala University senior maths lecturer Lars-Åke Lindahl then contacted Altoumaimi's teachers to tell them what a gifted student he was.


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Source: The Local (English)

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