The "legend" of Vietnamese mathematics and the journey to conquer the Math Olympiad

(Dan Tri) - From the time he was a student until his retirement, Dr. Le Ba Khanh Trinh's name was associated with the International Mathematical Olympiad. For him, it was not just an achievement but a journey to understand himself.

In 1979, at the age of 17, while a student in the specialized math class at Hue National School, Le Ba Khanh Trinh won first prize at the International Math Olympiad in London (UK) with a perfect score of 40/40, and also won a special prize for students for their unique solution.

After graduating from the Mathematics Department of Moscow State University (Russia), he returned to Vietnam to teach at the Mathematics and Information Technology Department of the University of Natural Sciences and the Gifted High School (Ho Chi Minh City National University).

The International Mathematical Olympiad continued to benefit him when he became the mentor of many generations of Vietnamese students participating in this arena with many remarkable achievements.

Dr. Le Ba Khanh Trinh shared with Dan Tri reporter (Photo: Hoai Nam).

At the Gifted High School alone, Dr. Le Ba Khanh Trinh led the school's math team to win 171 national excellent student awards, 19 international Olympic medals including 5 gold medals, 9 silver medals, 3 bronze medals and 2 honorary certificates. Not to mention, he participated in training many teams from other provinces and cities as well as directly led the Vietnamese math team in international competitions.

Dan Tri reporter had a chat with the person known as "Vietnam's math legend" after he received his retirement decision, after nearly 40 years of working as a teacher and almost his entire life with math.

Won the grand prize and got the wrong problem

Going back more than 45 years ago, in 1979, when student Le Ba Khanh Trinh participated in the International Math Olympiad in London, what do you remember most?

- I remember a lot of things! That year, the other 4 students participating in the International Math Olympiad were all students in Hanoi , only I was a student from another province. Compared to my friends, my ability at that time was much weaker.

When I was young, I was competitive. When I returned to Hanoi to study, I studied a lot and devoted all my energy to studying and learning. This time helped me to somewhat shorten the gap with my friends.

At that time, there was a border war, students and we were always in the spirit of joining the army at any time.

At that time, Vietnam was under embargo so the Vietnamese delegation could not go straight to England to attend the International Math Olympiad but had to fly to the Soviet Union, wait there to know the results and whether they could go to England to attend or not.

Student Le Ba Khanh Trinh received first prize and special prize at the 1979 International Mathematical Olympiad in London (Photo: NVCC).

What about the perfect score of 40/40 and also the special prize for students with unique solutions in the International Math Olympiad that year?

- That year, I did a question wrong on the exam. On the first day of the exam, when there were 15 minutes left, I checked my answer and found that I did the question completely opposite to the question.

The exam paper had two points moving in the same direction, but I mistakenly solved it as two points moving in opposite directions. I hurriedly did the additional work as required by the exam paper, by this time the other students had already submitted their papers and left.

While doing the test, I asked the supervisor: "Let me write a few more lines." The supervisor was still waiting for me. I finished submitting my test by thanking him.

I still kept the wrong reverse problem in the test, did not cross it out. Actually, the problem was wrong but the answer was not wrong, my answer had added the reverse situation next to the same direction. Maybe this was a lucky thing for me.

The 1979 International Mathematical Olympiad "awakened" in me exactly 40 years later in a very special meeting.

In 2019, I was part of the Vietnamese team that participated in the International Math Olympiad in the UK. During the meeting, when mentioning the Vietnamese team, a veteran judge of the International Math Olympiad reminded me: “Oh, Vietnam? There was a Vietnamese boy of yours who won the absolute gold medal and the special prize in 1979. I will always remember his work.”

Hearing that, the teachers in the group immediately pointed to me - the "Vietnamese boy" that year that the examiner had just mentioned.

What a strange encounter, I met the same person who marked my Olympic exam 40 years ago.

He said that year, when he was grading a Vietnamese student's test, the test was very short, and the examiners said to each other, "It's probably not good enough." Then one of the examiners shouted, "Oh, he did it right!" From then on, the teacher was impressed with the word "Vietnam" every time he participated in grading the International Math Olympiad.

Waking up after being "checkmated" by students

After graduating in Russia, you returned to Vietnam and stuck with teaching instead of reaching out to many opportunities abroad. Do you feel like you “narrowed” yourself when you chose to return home and stick with teaching?

For me, returning to Vietnam to live and work is a natural thing, without any worries or concerns when my hometown is there, my relatives are there. I have never thought of working abroad so maybe that is why those opportunities have not come to me.

Moving from Hue to Ho Chi Minh City to live and work was a new horizon for me. The country was in an open period with many interesting and new things for me to explore.

Mr. Trinh with colleagues and students at the International Math Olympiad (Photo: NVCC).

I like to be a teacher, perhaps influenced by many teachers during my studies in Russia. Teachers are not gentle, slow, quiet, silent images…, I see images of strong, thorny teachers, with very individual and unique teaching styles.

As a teacher, the best thing is that my students have taught me and opened my eyes to many things. I question myself and am strict with myself when looking at my own students.

How has teaching and students helped Dr. Le Ba Khanh Trinh grow up?

- Looking back at my first years of teaching, I see that I was very irresponsible, if not irresponsible. At that time, I often gave problems from international math books and let students solve them themselves, while I was at ease because the answers were already in the books.

Students came up with better and more interesting solutions, and many times they “checkmated” me. The solutions available in the books I gave lacked soul, passion, and individuality, and were not in harmony with my students.

I remember my strong-willed teachers in Russia. I realize that if this continues, the teachers will "fade" and the students will not progress. I cannot help the students develop but will hold them back.

After being “checkmated” by my students, I woke up. I joined them, studied with them, solved problems with them, put my soul and essence into each problem. It was my students who lifted me up, helped me change, and saved me.

For him, students are the ones who awakened him and helped him grow up (Photo: NVCC.

Your journey of accompanying Vietnamese students to compete in the International Math Olympiad is certainly not just about how many gold and silver medals people see?

In 2005, I just started my apprenticeship leading students to the International Math Olympiad. Exams often leave me with regrets and “if onlys”…

In 2013, for the first time, I was the leader of a delegation of Vietnamese students to compete in the International Math Olympiad. The students in the delegation were very united, they did very well on the test, but in fact, at that time, I and the leaders of the delegation were all new, we had little experience. This led to a student in the delegation being deducted points in the geometry test, which was very unfortunate, causing him to miss out on a gold medal by 1 point.

I feel sorry for the group, but what I feel most sorry for is the student. I keep thinking, if only I had done better…

There is a regret aside from the exam story, which is about the British teacher who graded my exam in 1979, whom I accidentally met again after 40 years, mentioned above.

Teacher Le Ba Khanh Trinh in his rare free time plays the guitar with friends (Photo: NVCC).

In 2024, the International Mathematical Olympiad was moved to England instead of Ukraine due to the war. When I took the delegation, I prepared a small gift for the teacher but it was too late… He just passed away.

Perhaps fate only allowed me to meet my special exam grader once - a teacher who devoted his whole life to accompanying the Math Olympiad.

Setting an example for children in… "hopelessness"

After retirement, is a day of "math boy" Le Ba Khanh Trinh leisurely and leisurely with his hobby of playing guitar since his student days?

No, I am still busy after retirement, even busier because I have to take care of the grocery shopping for my wife. My wife works in a bank, the job is very stressful, before I could not share the burden, but now I am retired, she is also old, if I do not do it, my wife will be stressed, have headaches, dizziness...

After retirement, in addition to continuing to train the national team, Dr. Le Ba Khanh Trinh took on the additional task of shopping for his wife (Photo: Hoai Nam).

I still participate in training for the gifted student team. In teaching, especially for gifted students, the requirements are getting higher and higher. What I have and know before and now is not enough to teach students, but must change to become better and better, which means it is also more difficult and heavier.

I think “the older the ginger, the spicier it is”. A day without learning something, without receiving something to improve awareness and knowledge is a wasted day.

There are problems that I solve today that after a while, maybe many years later, I have to say that it is not so. Except for what is simple and true, nothing is true. What I know is only what I know at the present time.

Before, I had a principle of not teaching any individual or any team. Teaching privately always made me feel strange. But now I think differently, maybe I will teach a team like Hue for example, it is love, it is gratitude.

But I also felt more relaxed when I was no longer tied to a fixed work schedule. My wife had just given me a guitar, and I could sit down and play it. I remember the time I was leisurely playing the guitar when I went to my girlfriend’s house (my future wife) when I was 26 years old. After that, I didn’t have time to play it, so I gave it to a nephew.

Going to the market for your wife, teaching your children and managing money, solving these things versus solving math problems, which is more difficult, sir?

- Equally difficult (laughs). I find that math not only helps me organize everything in my life scientifically, but also helps me go to the supermarket for my wife.

When I go to the supermarket, I will not choose to buy products that are priced appropriately, not too expensive compared to the features; I wait for promotional and discounted products to buy in reserve, so that when needed, I have them immediately.

But I find myself setting a "hopeless" example for my children. None of my children follow my career path, which I find normal. They have their own passions and choices.

I was born and raised when the country was in difficulty. I lived very frugally and economically. If the apple was rotten, I would peel off the rotten part and use it, but my wife and children would throw it away immediately.

Because of this, husbands and wives, fathers and children often quarrel. Just recently, after frying fish, I kept the oil for later use, but my children threw it away. I hung up new clothes to wear again the next time, while my children put their new clothes in the washing machine right after they got home… Of course, I also see some lovely things in my wife and children’s way of life.

In my eyes, my wife and children are too wasteful and extravagant, and conversely, my children say I live too frugally, too miserably, sometimes saying “Dad is selfish”. I don’t think I can give or change my children’s way of life, I can only instill in them little by little values ​​like self-respect, honesty, integrity, diligence…

"Golden boy of mathematics" with his wife and children (Photo: NVCC).

Money management is a very broad and complex issue, requiring a lot of knowledge that I cannot touch. I do not have the time and energy for this, I cannot do it, so I listen to my wife's arrangement for any money I have.

Now that I am retired, I still teach, lead the team, and attend professional meetings, and she immediately asks, “Are you still having fun?”. There may be right or wrong in math, but in life, sometimes listening to your wife is the way to keep your family happy.

- Thank you very much for sharing and wish you good health!

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/huyen-thoai-toan-hoc-viet-nam-va-hanh-trinh-chinh-phuc-olympic-toan-20250826164430094.htm