DUBAI : What's 385 x 275?
Five-year-old Aeron Alde can work out the answer (105,875) in about the same time it takes grown ups to find the calculator option on the mobile phone.
But the Filipino boy wonder is not just lighting-quick at cracking math problems more suited for children twice his age.
He knows the capitals of almost all countries, catches teachers' mistakes at school and sometimes gives his seniors science lessons.
And while many adults don't even know where Uzbekistan is, Alde can name the Central Asian country's capital city — Tashkent. He also knows Stockholm is Sweden's capital.
"I want to learn Swedish," Alde said.
SHARP MEMORY
The kindergarten student of The Philippine School (TPS), Dubai recently corrected mistakes on a grade-two English exam sheet.
He asked the teacher why she had used words with the same meaning unnecessarily in one sentence, TPS Principal Dr Edna Gabrido-Ramos said.
"There were some redundancies, which he circled out with a pen. And he rejected another question, saying it was invalid because ‘Hong Kong is not a country'," said Gabrido-Ramos.
"He's brilliant in every subject; I knew that as soon as he had come in for admission. We don't know if he's officially a genius, but he's definitely gifted."
She also suspects he has a photographic memory. "He never forgets anything he sees. He knows the exact sequence and reference codes of all questions; he refers to them when he discusses the answers."
Despite Alde's talents, Gabrido-Ramos is concerned about upgrading him to higher grades.
She said: "He's just a child; he needs to be with his own group. He's not ready physically and psychologically to jump classes."
At home, Alde is busy reading encyclopedias and dictionaries, his father Adelio said.
"I've to literally pull him off the books. He wants to study a lot, like trying to do six-digit by six-digit multiplications, but too much study time is also not healthy," said Adelio, who works in the airline industry.
"He's a great kid, always asking questions and smiling. Sometimes people ask me what school he goes to," Adelio quipped.
However, Alde does take time out, playing with his younger brother and watching cartoons.
"I like animation movies. Cars and Dora the Explorer are my favourites," he said.
