Meet Chika Ofili Nigerian whiz kid who made a historic mathematical discovery

The world of mathematics saw another great discovery by a then 12-year-old whiz kid in 2019.

UK-based Chika Ofili received the “TruLittle Hero Awards” for his discovery of a new mathematical formula. The award show is an annual ceremony that celebrates and rewards outstanding achievements of teenagers under the age of 17 across the UK.

Ofili was awarded for discovering a new mathematical formula to test for divisibility by seven. His math teacher who is also the head of the math department, Mary Ellis said Ofili made the discovery while solving a holiday assignment.

His math teacher had reportedly given him a book to test divisibility for 2 and 9, but the book had no tangible test to check the divisibility by 7. The young scholar solved this problem by creating a new formula that involves taking the last digit of any whole number, multiplying it by 5, and adding it to the remaining part of the number to get the result.

Ofili’s math discovery was tested by Ms. Ellis’s younger brother, who is a natural math guru, and the new formula proved to be successful.

The new formula was backed up by an algebraic proof, such that if the new number is divisible by 7, then the original number is also divisible by 7.

Ofili wouldn’t be the first or only Nigerian in diaspora kid to gain national recognition.

Fathia Abdullahi, a then 12-year-old girl came into national recognition for inventing a laundry folding robot, barely a year after she learned to code. Other kids in the program also invented impressive robots and gadgets.

Tanitoluwa Adewumi, a Nigerian refugee in the US also had the spotlight on him when he won the NY State Chess Championship at the age of 8. Trevor Noah is reportedly producing a movie about the young chess champion.