Gann Academy Student Puzzles High-Level Math in Israel

Daniel Mangoubi of Newton, MA, a senior at Gann Academy in Waltham, spent his summer immersed in rigorous games — and we're not talking soccer. Daniel, 17, tackled game theory head-on at the SciTech program of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.  Daniel and his two collaborators won the SciTech 2013 Scientific Research and Poster Competition for his work.

 

He was among 44 teens from nine U.S. states as well as Israel, Europe and Canada to participate in the selective three-week international science and technology research camp, now in its 20th year. Working with one Israeli student and another American, Daniel researched a mathematical algorithm similar to the well-known “Stable Marriage Problem.” They intend to continue working on the problem, with the hope of expanding and eventually publishing the formal research paper that they started this summer. “SciTech gave me good practice in writing formal scientific papers, and on explaining my work succinctly by creating a poster to present our findings.”

 

“I first became passionate about math in 7th and 8th grade when I was challenged by my teachers at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston,” he says. Now at Gann, his math teachers have encouraged him to learn independently, while also taking both required and additional classes such as college level courses in Computer Science, Logic, Multivariable Calculus and Number Theory.