He is probably better spoken than most people three or four times his age. As he talks, there is no hesitation in his answers, no “umms.”

And while he is plain spoken about his accomplishments and plans for the future, he never sounds like he is bragging. He casually mentions that his biggest goal is to finish calculus before he begins the ninth grade. Which he likely will do at least two years ahead of schedule. All of which kind of makes sense for a young man who said he made up his own formula in order to figure squared numbers in his head.

Edward Yang also just won first place in a state-wide math contest, finishing ahead of some 400 other students, completing 29 of 30 problems.

By the way, Edward is 10 years old and in the fifth grade at Bothell’s Shelton View Elementary School.

“He’s the real deal,” stated Principal Bob Jones. He said many gifted students excel in one or two subjects, and that while Edward obviously has a gift for math, the youngster does well across the board academically. While he is in the fifth grade, Edward said his curriculum is that of a seventh-grader.

“We’re just thrilled to have him here,” Jones said. “It’s good that he’s been recognized as he deserves.”

Asked to talk about the state math contest, Edward is able to do so with great detail. What kinds of problems did he have to solve?

“It was a really well-spread-out test,” he said. For example, one question concerned figuring the median of a number of terms of pi.

“They were really interesting problems,” Edward said.

Another problem dealt with finding a triangle inside a snowman and figuring the length of one side. There were also so-called mental questions, which apparently called for creative thinking. While Edward described most of the other problems as interesting, these he admitted were “kind of tough.”

Math is a hobby for him, Edward said, stating he works on problems at home, that he readied himself for the recent competition by taking practice tests with his parents, both of whom he said work for the University of Washington.

“I really don’t know why math appeals to me,” Edward said. “There’s always one answer and it’s always satisfying to find that answer.”

Despite the practice, he allowed that he had a case of nerves going into the state competition.

“I have kind of a history of not doing that well in big contests,” Edward admitted, though he also said just having been involved in such competitions is an accomplishment. Edward said his prowess with numbers is a bit surprising to him given that he was actually behind in math in the first grade.

Besides numbers, Edward also likes music. He said he “officially” plays four instruments: violin, piano, trumpet and marimba. While he largely talks and acts like a young adult, Edward did admit to a fondness for video games.

So what might be in his future? Certainly, he is going to take on the state math contest again next year. And as already mentioned, one goal is to take up calculus as soon as possible. He also wants to take the college SAT Reasoning Test next year and get into some ninth-grade honor classes by the time he is officially in seventh grade. Surprisingly, his long-term goals don’t include math, but law.

“I really want to be a lawyer, to represent people in court when they are victims of crimes,” Edward said.

He admitted he has a little time to settle on a career.

“I’ll figure it out,” he said with some well-deserved confidence.