At 10 years old, Theodor Marcu, an eminent student from Bucharest, loves numbers since he was in kindergarten and performs exceptionally well in international mental arithmetic competitions, surprising the world with his brilliant mind.
Theodor Marcu, a child with a brilliant mind PHOTO personal archive
Between May 7-8, the World Olympiad of Mental Arithmetic took place in Dubai, in which 560 children from 19 countries participated. The event was organized by the World Association of Mental Arithmetic Schools «WAMAS», a network that brings together more than 170 educational centers around the globe and has approximately 16,000 enrolled students.
And Theodor Marcu qualified for this special international competition, obtaining the Diploma of Honor and the title of Champion. It is another important trophy that adds to the many international awards obtained by Theodor in recent years. His mother is a researcher and his father is a university professor.
In 2020, Theodor amazed the jury of “Romanians have talent” with his mental calculations, receiving the Golden Buzz from Andi Moisescu and going straight to the semi-finals.
Mental Arithmetic is the amazing art of performing complex mathematical calculations using only mental capacity, without the use of a calculator.
Theodor has been trained for five years by Nomin Damdin, who is from Mongolia and in 2015 he founded Nomin Jyuku, the first Japanese Education Center in Romania, which offers children a new educational method, recognized worldwide for its extraordinary effects in the development of their brains: the Soroban method and Japanese mental arithmetic. He is a trainer certified by the Japanese Soroban Federation in Japan and the only representative of the Japanese school of Soroban Houmei Jyuku, with over 70 years of experience in soroban.
Soroban is a Japanese abacus, an abacus with which various mathematical calculations can be performed at high speed – addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and even more complicated operations. There are two methods of calculation: soroban and mental arithmetic. If the soroban method refers to performing calculations on this Japanese count, mental arithmetic involves performing calculations without actually using a soroban, but only imagining one.
“From a very young age I loved numbers”
“At first it was like a game, out of passion for numbers, then I liked the Japanese calculation method and the atmosphere at the mental arithmetic center so much that I started to get faster and go through one after another another the soroban levels. I liked it so much that I was also practicing at home with pleasure, so I progressed very quickly. In addition, when I participated in Romanians have Talent in 2020 and received a Golden Buzz from Andi Moisescu, I became a kind of star at school. This made me ambitious to be even better”declared Theodor Marcu for “Adevărul”.
Theodor has been participating in international mental arithmetic competitions since 2020 and every time he has returned with prizes, such as the 1st Prize at the International Online Abacus Olympiad in India (2020), the 2nd prize at the Mental Arithmetic Olympiad in the Republic of Moldova (2022 ) or the First Prize at the International Intellectual Championship in Turkey (2023).
Theodor Marcu with Nomin Damdin, the one who prepared his personal archive for the PHOTO competition
“From a very young age I loved numbers and I liked to play with them, so the Soroban classes suited me perfectly. I have learned the Japanese formulas and the fact that I can do several things at once pleases and amazes all the people I meet. They can't believe that I can calculate in my head while I play the Synonym Game, Pheasant or play the piano with them”says Theodor.
For the genius kid from Bucharest, mental arithmetic is more fun compared to the classical one.
“In the mental arithmetic exercises I can see how I'm progressing, how I'm overcoming performance levels, because I have an app where I can set the level of complexity of the exercises I'm doing and the speed of work. When I have more complex problems at school, I save a lot of time because I don't waste time calculating one under the other. I do everything in my mind and I have time to think more about other aspects”adds Theodor Marcu.
Nomin Damdin, Theodor's teacher: “He is a very smart child”
“Adevărul” also spoke with Nomin Damdin, Theodor Marcu's mental arithmetic teacher, both about his very intelligent student and about the growing interest in Asian methods of mental calculation.
“From 2015 until now, more than 10,000 children have been initiated into the Japanese method of calculation with Soroban, and I'm glad that I brought this method so popular in Asia to Romania. Asian methods of mental calculation are becoming more and more popular in the West because they develop children's brains spectacularly”says Nomin Damdin.
The connection with Romania of the teacher Nomin Damdin from Mongolia began with her grandfather, when he started working at the Embassy of Mongolia in Bucharest in 1968. Her mother graduated from the faculty of Romanian languages in Bucharest, and her older sister graduated from ASE.
“There was a lot of talk in my family about Romania, so I knew a lot of things before I came to study here. I had been told that the people are very soulful, that they are close to children and parents, just like the Mongols. It wasn't easy to adapt, especially since I didn't know the Romanian language, but I was lucky to have very nice people who always helped me with the translation of the courses and with understanding the specific culture. I started a family here, I speak Romanian in my family and I feel at home in Romania”recalls Nomin Damdin.
Nomin Jyuku students are trained in the original Japanese method, exactly as it is taught today in Japan.
“We use the same textbooks and the same worksheets that the children in Japan work on. Children are also given short homework assignments to reinforce classroom knowledge. The more they practice, the faster the progress. Parents tell us excitedly how they see in their children a higher speed of processing information and improvements in all school results. Theo is a very smart kid who learns very easily, which makes training with him very enjoyable. In addition, it has a very rich general culture, multiple passions, and I feel that we both learn from our interaction”Nomin Damdin also specifies.
The Japanese, who are very proud of their method of mental calculation, have researched what the benefits are and claim that Soroban stimulates the development of the right cerebral hemisphere, responsible for imagination, creativity, intuition, etc., that those who know the method use their whole brain more efficiently and that using the Soroban calculation method maintains brain health into old age. These are also the reasons why this method of calculation is still being studied in Japan, one of the most technologically advanced countries.
“Parents often ask us how the Soroban stimulates the right cerebral hemisphere and how imagination has to do with math. Well, in the mental calculation stage, children project the Soroban (Japanese abacus) in their mind and move its balls in their imagination to perform the calculations. An uninitiated adult cannot do this, but children can, if they learn the method by age 14. The method is intended for children between the ages of 5 and 14, but the earlier it is started, the more spectacular the results are”explains Nomin Damdin.
