Precocious talent: Kaarthi posing with his Asia Book of Records award.
CARTOONS captivate four-year-old Kaarthikeya Desigan, fondly known among his family as Kaarthi.
Having recently developed a newfound interest in programmes like Numberblocks and Wonderland, he is often found immersed in the screen – much to the earlier disapproval of his mother Dr Kanageswary Sockalingam.
Little did she know at the time that these videos would serve as a catalyst for Kaarthi’s fascination with mathematics, particularly the world of exponential numbers.
When the preschooler started offering random quips – mentioning terms like “decillion”, “duodecillion” and “trevigintillion” – the SEGi University mechanical engineering lecturer looked up their meanings online and was amazed to learn that they refer to large numbers.
Upon quizzing her son, she was left even more stunned.
“To my surprise, he correctly identified 101 number names, from 0 to googol (the number 10 to the 100th power). That’s when I knew his talent needed to be recognised!” she told StarEdu.
That was how Kaarthi earned a Kids World Record for the “most exponential power of ten number names identified” on Aug 7.
Additionally, at the age of four years and seven months, he earned the title of “Grand Master” in the Asia Book of Records on Aug 23.
He was recognised for identifying the exponential powers of 10, from 10^0 (1) to 10^100 (googol), and for recalling 101 number names in three minutes and 35 seconds.
It was a feat the boy born in Sungai Buloh, Selangor, managed to achieve in just under a month, according to his mother.
Kanageswary added that her son already knows basic addition and subtraction.
“Kaarthi loves it whenever I do mathematics with him. Sometimes, he asks us out of the blue, ‘What is 400 + 300?’, etc. It was shocking at first,” she shared.
This latest recognition, however, was not the first for the precocious boy.
As a toddler, at just 20 months old, Kaarthi was already a holder of two Malaysia Book of Records titles – he attained the “youngest to speak expressive vocabulary” and “most number of expressive vocabulary in five minutes by a toddler” on Sept 11, 2021.
Born in 2020, Kaarthi’s learning journey began during the Covid-19 pandemic, as Kanageswary worked from home.
She shared that she and her husband, Desigan Manveeran, often engaged in sensory play, memory games and brain-boosting activities with Kaarthi. She added that they began reading books to him when he was six months old, and he now owns over 500 books.
“As a first-time mum, I was amazed to see how quickly babies and toddlers learn through play. So, I started to engage with him more frequently, using creative and simple activities at home that offered great benefits,” she recalled.
The couple also make it a priority to answer Kaarthi’s numerous questions, ranging from simple observations to more complex topics such as cars, space and nature.
“We do not ignore or shut him off whenever he asks ‘why’. We try our best to answer those whys in a way that is easy for him to understand. This has helped to increase his knowledge tremendously,” said Kanageswary.
Vying for another record is, however, not in the couple’s plans for their son.
“Though Kaarthi owns four records at such an early age, none of them was preplanned.
“My husband and I just wanted him to be recognised for his talents. He is too young to be given a set of goals to be achieved,” she said.
To other parents who might feel the pressure to push their children into formal learning at an early age, Kanageswary had some advice to offer: “The key is to play with your children. Do not force them to study. Young kids should play – that’s how they learn. Talk to them and answer their whys correctly.
“Do not ignore or shut them off whenever they ask questions. Remember, we are their dictionary, we are their Google!”
Sydney, 20, a student in Kuala Lumpur, is a participant of the BRATs Young Journalist Programme run by The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) team. For updates on the BRATs programme, go to facebook.com/niebrats.
