CLEARWATER- Noah Masih isn't your typical 11-year-old. The home schooled Clearwater student was the only person from Minnesota selected to be part of a national math competition to be held in Florida.

In February the fifth-grader and his father Alyas Masih created a video submission for the National Number Knockout competition that they put on YouTube.

In the video Masih plays a board game where players have one minute to roll three dice and form 36 equations based on the numbers rolled. Each correct equation will "knock" a number off of the board.

To make it more difficult each player has to use a certain order of operations. Masih's mother Tammy Masih says some of the skills are above her son's grade level, "he had to actually learn new math skills for this game."

The contest is for students 14 and younger. Masih is among 32 contestants nationwide selected to attend the math competition in Orlando.

Tammy Masih stumbled upon the game through an email she received in February. Since then, Masih says he has been practicing about eight hours a day preparing for the competition.

Alyas Masih says "I was amazed, he was pretty fast." Noah Masih is able to complete the game board with seconds to spare.

Tammy Masih says her son has always had an interest in math and sequencing. It's a skill she thinks he learned from his father who is a physician at a Monticello clinic. She says on road trips Alyas Masih would give his six children a math equation to solve and Noah Masih was always the first to solve it.

The winning student will receive $10,000. Masih says if he wins he plans to save the money or buy a new coin for his money collection.

Masih will be accompanied by his father during the competition which is slated to begin on Friday, March 28th.

Ashli Gerdes, WJON News
Ashli Gerdes, WJON News
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