About Tony

Tony's love for maths started in his childhood, where he could often be seen reading books from the Murderous Maths series in his free time. All of this started to pay off in high school, where he won many awards in numerous competitions. He had won many high distinctions and prizes in ICAS, AMC, and throughout the years, and in 2013 his Mathex team placed second in the year 9 competition. In 2015, after he had discovered Olympiad maths, he became the youngest person that year to attend the NZ Maths Olympiad camp, where he was also selected for the training squad, consisting of the top 12 young mathematicians in NZ. In the same year, he also came first in the Otago Junior Maths Competition. By 2018, he had represented New Zealand twice in the IMO, winning an honourable mention in 2017 and a bronze medal in 2018. He had also won two silver medals in the Australian Maths Olympiad and two bronze medals in the Asia–Pacific Maths Olympiad.

Following these successes, Tony went to study mathematics at Imperial College London in 2018. While there, he remained active in the Maths Olympiad scene. In 2019, he founded the Mathematical Olympiad Discord Server, an online platform for mathematical problem-solving now with over 16,000 members which he still runs. In the same year, he also won the Imperial–Cambridge Mathematics Competition, a UK-wide undergraduate mathematics competition. He would go on to run the competition starting later that year, and he is now running the 8th edition of the competition. In 2020, amid COVID restrictions, he returned to NZ, which was when he started tutoring.

Over the years, his tutoring has ranged in ages from 8 years old to university students, but he has always focused on teaching Olympiad mathematics, which he believes is far more beneficial for personal growth than regular school mathematics. Several of his students have made it to the New Zealand Maths Olympiad camp, including one who won a bronze medal at the IMO. In 2023, he was also invited as a lecturer to Olympiad Summer Camp in Ghana.

Throughout all this time, he has also been actively involved in the New Zealand Maths Olympiad. He regularly lectures at the January maths camps, including at the start of 2025, and he has been involved with squad and team training. He is part of the New Zealand Mathematical Olympiad Committee.

Tony believes that Olympiad mathematics is the best way to develop quantitative problem-solving skills and the kind of creative thinking that is most applicable to the world today. Whereas school maths teaches you the vocabulary and grammar of mathematics, Olympiad mathematics teaches you how to create your own ideas using the language of mathematics, and how to truly think mathematically. To this end, while many other tutors focus on theory and problems, Tony balances that with problem-solving strategies, higher maths, and historical and mathematical context. Five years into tutoring, Tony continues to build on his collection of handouts and courses, and refine his pedagogy to most effectively help his students master, and inspire a passion for, mathematical thinking.