Are you smarter than this fourth-grader? Probably not

Utter the mathematical terms derivative, calculus or vectors to most fourth-graders and most adults and you'll likely get a blank stare or a grunt in return.

But for 8-year-old Akash Sureshkumar of Cary, numbers are his forte and mathematics his language.

The fourth-grader set the North American record as the youngest student to complete the college-level math course at Kumon, an after-school enrichment program with classrooms all over the world. The average Kumon student completes the course in five years and is 16 years old.

While his classmates slogged through addition, subtraction and multiplication, Akash, a student at Canterbury Elementary School in Crystal Lake, completed advanced algebra, geometry and calculus in four years.

Akash completed the course in August, but Kumon officials waited until this week to announce his record-setting achievement upon verification. The previous youngest completer was a 9-year-old boy from California.

“I was happy when I found out,” Akash said. “When I handed in my worksheet, my teacher told me. I was excited and proud.”

He was jumping up and down when he found out, his mother, Jayameena Kadhirvel, said.

“I am very proud of him,” she said. “It is a big reward for him, considering the amount of time for homework he put in. It's a big motivation for him, too. He has achieved so much at such a young age it gives him a lot of confidence.”

Akash, who said he wants to be a doctor, skipped the second grade and was placed in Canterbury's gifted and talented program because of his math abilities. He now tackles seventh-grade math problems and is advanced in reading, social studies and science.

A math tutor is brought in to help him while he is working on math.

“I got interested in math when I was 3,” Akash said. “My parents played games with me and made me count numbers when I was young.”

His father, Arumugam Sureshkumar, said Akash started with basic numbers and the alphabet but soon showed a proficiency in math.

“We started teaching him addition and he could do a lot of calculations with his mind,” he said. “He could understand concepts of math.”

His parents enrolled him in Kumon when he completed an older friend's puzzles. Still, they were unaware of his talent.

“He could add single-digit numbers without using his fingers when he was 3 and he could write numbers up to 100 when he was 4,” Kadhirvel said. “We thought he was just above average in math, but Kumon fed his curiosity and developed him more.”

Even his teacher at Kumon in Algonquin, Nicole Prihoda, took a few months to recognize Akash's abilities.

“You don't believe it until you see it,” said Prihoda, a co-owner of the Algonquin center. “I was still new and naive about what to expect ... Akash was just learning to write, but then he could do the calculation part and I said, ‘Hey, wait a minute. This kid has talent.'”

It was about a year ago when Prihoda realized Akash was closing in on the record. She said Akash was completing about five calculus work sheets a night.

“I talked to his mother and said if we can keep up this pace and don't have repetition we can beat the record.”