A 12 year old boy, Chika Ofili, born to Nigerian parents based in the United Kingdom has discovered a formula to determine numbers that are divisible by 7.
The formula, named after the young lad, is known as Chika’s Test.
In November 2019, Chika received the Academic Hero Award at the TruLittle Hero Awards for his contribution to the world of mathematics at the tender age of 12.
He discovered the formula while he was completing his mathematics holiday assignment.
Miss Mary Ellis, his mathematics teacher, gave him a book called “First Steps for Problem Solvers” to study during the school holidays.
Talk about brilliant minds
The book contained several divisibility tests for numbers by 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 or 9. However, Chika found out that the book did not have any easy or memorable tests for knowing if a number is divisible by 7.
The smart boy then devised his own formula to solve this problem!
His formula involves taking the last digit of any whole number, multiplying it by 5 and then adding it to the remaining part of the number to get a new number. If this new number is divisible by 7, then the original number is divisible by 7.
Chika showed his new discovery to the entire faculty of Westminister Under School where he attended and a mathematics specialist was invited to test Chika’s theory.
After extensive testing, the theory was confirmed to be effective. His achievement was communicated to mathematics journals and concerned parties, and due recognition was given to the young mathematician.
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Having not met any female pilots, she became even more motivated to make a difference by becoming a female pilot so she kept her hopes high.
