Last month, maths wizard Rafael Nazarene Kugan earned a spot in the Malaysia Book of Records (MBR) for identifying the most perfect cube roots in one minute.
While most kids his age are only just learning the multiplication table, the precocious lad has already mastered square roots and has moved on to cube roots. In case you’ve forgotten, to determine a square or cube root is to find the original value before it multiplies itself.
Able to solve the cube root of 140,608 in the blink of an eye without a calculator, Rafael’s number-crunching powers are truly astonishing.
His mother Sangeertha Kala Thirunchanasamathan told FTM Lifestyle she was pleasantly surprised by Rafael’s keen interest in mathematics, which began when he was three.
“At first, I taught him to count in twos – 2, 4, 6. Then we counted in fives. From there, he started to do it by himself: counting by 7, by 10, by 22. He completed everything until 200!”
She recalled that when she’d shown him other children’s MBR accomplishments, he’d replied: “What about me?” This led to weeks of training, culminating in Rafael successfully identifying 48 cube roots in one minute.
“The MBR benchmark was to identify 40 cube roots in three attempts. I was more nervous than Rafael was! But he managed to pass on the first attempt,” Sangeertha said proudly.
While Rafael clearly possesses innate talent, his mum’s support and assistance have played a significant role.
Sangeertha, who has over 20 years of experience as a special-needs teacher, homeschools her two children. Her older son Raeyan has Down Syndrome and autism, while Rafael struggled with speech delay until he was four.
“It is definitely not easy raising special-needs children,” she reflected. “The first eight years are crucial in a child’s life. So whatever information we give our children is very important.”
Every day, Sangeertha diligently prepares lesson plans along with engaging educational materials for her children. This included creating countless worksheets that ultimately helped Rafael master cube roots.
Still, Sangeertha would be the first to insist it was all him. “I barely taught him anything. I just gave him the worksheet, asked him to try it out, and after a few minutes when I checked on his progress, he had finished it all by himself!”
Stepping into his study filled with books and posters, it is evident Rafael is academically well-rounded. His mum calls him a studious child who is “very active, very curious to learn new things every day”.
“His favourite subjects are geography, mathematics and science,” she added. ““He could identify and locate nearly 200 countries, with capitals and flags, by age four.”
Indeed, during FMT Lifestyle’s visit, Rafael proudly showcased his self-made digital Canva slideshows that explore topics such as history, nations of the world, and more.
While he has largely overcome his speech delay thanks to therapy provided by Sangeertha, Rafael still encounters occasional challenges in forming coherent sentences.
Yet, he doesn’t let this hold him back. In fact, he proudly calls himself Rafael Einstein, inspired by the scientist who had faced similar challenges as a child.
Asked about the future, Sangeertha concluded: “Today he’s very keen on mathematics, but in a few years it may be something else. I will simply continue to encourage whatever he is interested in.”
Follow Sangeertha and her sons on Instagram.