Lee uses his skills in solving square root equations to earn enough money from tourists so that he can find his long-lost father who is believed to be in Manila. - CDN
CEBU, Philippines: Nine-year-old Lee Axel Avila's amazing talent in maths, especially in finding the square root of huge numbers, has wowed netizens after a video of the boy from Cebu went viral recently.
Lee, who lives in Madridejos, continues to charm visitors to the thriving fishing community near the tourist district of Santa Fe with his talents, reported Cebu Daily News Digital.
Lenard Bryan Lanohan, a native of Sante Fe, was on a visit to Madridejos on Sunday (Aug 11) when he happened to run into the maths whiz. He was so thrilled with the boy's gift that he decided to share Lee’s amazing talent online.
CDN reported that Lee approached Lanohan, who was with a group of friends, and asked them if they could buy him a cup of milk tea. In exchange, he challenged the group to answer mathematical equations on square roots.
The group accepted Lee’s challenge, and Lanohan pulled out his phone to film the encounter in a live Facebook video. It started with numbers from two to three digits until the equations transitioned to square roots of four-digit numbers.
To their surprise, Lee answered most of the equations correctly with minimal errors. In some cases, he even dictated the first two decimal places of the correct answer.
The boy felt comfortable with the group, and soon showcased his other talents. In the live video, he is seen singing and dancing to BINI’s hit song “Salamin,” and entertaining Lanohan’s friends. In the end, the boy got his reward.
In an interview with CDN, Lanohan said that Lee is usually found in the town’s centre, approaching tourists to showcase his skill in exchange for rewards.
However, behind Lee's jolly personality and motivation to share his abilities lies a dream he wishes to fulfil through his innate mathematical skills.
Lee is a Grade 4 student at the Madridejos Central Elementary School. In the live video, he mentioned that he sometimes practises his skills in solving square root equations to prepare for high school.
He currently lives with his mother and a brother in Madridejos. Unfortunately, his parents separated just months after his birth. Since then, he has yet to meet his father, who is believe to be living in Manila.
Since then, he has made it his goal to meet his father again. So he started to use his skills to entertain tourists in exchange for money.
According to him, he plans to save up enough to buy a phone so that they can finally contact his father and get a chance to meet him in person.
Since a shortened reel was posted on Lanohan’s Facebook account, it has garnered 36,200 reactions and 2,600 shares from several social media users impressed by the boy’s talent.
According to Lanohan, several people also expressed their interest in helping the kid by sending monetary donations to help him find his dad.
“I’ve been receiving help from a few people so far, and once everything is gathered, I’ll make sure it reaches him,” Lanohan said as he explained how Lee’s mother has no access to social media and that he’s doing what he can to coordinate the influx of donations from concerned netizens.
For people who wish to help Lee, Lanohan’s contact lines are open through his Facebook account to ensure that the donations reach Lee's family immediately.
With the help of people like Lanohan, and Lee's impressive talent, the boy might soon get the chance to meet his dad. - CDN/Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
