Anklesaria's mathemagic

A third standard student of Ratlam’s St Joseph’s Convent S. S. School, Khush­nam Ankle­saria was supposed to finish 150 sums — having a combination of addition and subtraction — in eight minutes. Of these there were 100 sums with five rows of two digit numbers and 50 sums with three rows of three digit numbers. Participating with 2,500 children from different parts of the world at the international UCMAS (Universal Concept of Mental Arithmetic System) competition in Malaysia, she won the second runner-up trophy, standing third in the world, notes a press release.

Anklesaria: numerical prowess

Khushnam is pursuing her UCMAS education at Sai Shri Academy School, Ratlam where children are taught mental arithmetic using an Abacus. The technique of this brain development program originated in Malaysia and has branches all over the world. In July last Khushnam appeared for the UCMAS — Madhya Pradesh (MP) state level examination in Indore with 800 students from different cities of MP. She won the championship trophy and was sponsored to Madras for the national level competition in October 2005 where competing with 11,500 children she won the first runner-up trophy.

Khushnam was competing in the B2 category, explains a family source. The UCMAS course has 10 levels from A to J which are divided agewise. Being in the 6-8 age group category Khushnam qualified for B2 at the state and national level exam and appeared for the D level exam in Malaysia as per the international norms.