Male student wins Asian Olympic medal with unique solution using only 4 lines of code

The Asian Olympic exam questions are difficult and students often struggle with many lines of code to get the result. However, the youngest student of the Vietnamese team solved the problem with only 4 lines of code in the main processing part using the C++ programming language.

With this solution, which was evaluated as very unique by the Ministry of Education and Training and teachers, Hau achieved the maximum score in exercise 3 (100 points) from the organizing committee of the regional exam, thereby winning a silver medal in the Asian Informatics Olympiad when he was only in grade 10.

“With problems in regional and international competitions, many students even lose hundreds of lines of code and still cannot score any points. To find a solution, the most important thing is the way of thinking and the direction of thinking. Hau shared that he also does not understand why he came up with that method in the exam room,” said Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, Hau’s IT teacher at Thang Long High School for the Gifted - Da Lat.

Dang Huy Hau won a silver medal at the 2025 Asian Informatics Olympiad with a solution that was considered

Dang Huy Hau won a silver medal at the 2025 Asian Informatics Olympiad with a solution that was considered "very unique". (Photo source: Chau Tran)

Previously, the 10th grader won first prize and was also the valedictorian of the national excellent student exam in Information Technology this year with 25.25/40 points despite “skipping the level” (the exam was originally for 12th graders). Hau is not only the only first prize winner in Lam Dong province this year but also the first valedictorian in the history of the national excellent student exam in the province.

Teacher Tuan said that this is one of the "rare" cases but not too surprising because anyone who knows Hau understands that this boy is smart and very talented.

In fact, Huy Hau is a familiar name in IT competitions in Lam Dong province. From grade 4 to now, he has always won prizes in IT competitions, with a series of impressive achievements: first prize in the National Youth IT Competition in grade 5; first prize in the National Youth IT Competition for Secondary School students in 2023 in grade 8, first prize in the Central Highlands - Central Region IT Olympiad in the 2021-2022 school year...

Hau was born into a poor working-class family. His parents were from Vinh Phuc and moved to Tan Hoi commune, Duc Trong district to start a business in 2008. The whole family rented an old house in Tan Hiep village, Tan Hoi commune to live. The family's main source of income came from collecting scrap metal.

Despite the difficult life, since childhood, Hau loved to study and was good at all subjects.

In grade 3, when studying Computer Science, Hau found programming languages very interesting. After hours of solving math problems online, he explored and learned about computers and technology. The computer teacher at the elementary school at that time, Nguyen Thi Nghia, saw that the student was interested, so she created conditions for Hau to try his hand and put him on the youth computer science training team at the district level. Just like that, Hau successively passed the rounds of the district level, provincial level and then the national level with high prizes.

When Hau was in 5th grade, during a training session for IT teachers in the province, Ms. Nghia met Mr. Tuan - a teacher at Thang Long High School for the Gifted - Da Lat and asked him to support her with materials to further train Hau.

Dang Huy Hau with Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, Head of the IT Department and also the teacher who directly teaches and trains Hau at Thang Long High School for the Gifted - Da Lat. (Photo: NVCC)

When Hau was in 6th grade, the principal of Tan Hoi Secondary School wrote a letter to Thang Long - Da Lat Specialized High School asking for more support for him. "At that time, I decided to teach Hau online for free from 6th to 9th grade," said Mr. Tuan.

At the end of grade 9, Hau not only passed the entrance exam but was also the valedictorian of the 10th grade IT major at Thang Long High School - Da Lat.

Teacher Tuan commented that Hau is very serious, focused, and persistent. “Hau is passionate about studying and when he sees someone who is good, he makes friends with them to learn from them,” said teacher Tuan.

With the silver medal at the recent 2025 Asian Informatics Olympiad, Hau was selected to join the team for the upcoming 2025 International Informatics Olympiad, helping Lam Dong province to have students participate in the international Olympiad for the first time.

Hau was also given special privileges to pass the national excellent student competition and participate in the selection round for the regional and international teams next year.

(Source: Vietnamnet)

Link: https://vietnamnet.vn/nam-sinh-doat-huy-chuong-olympic-chau-a-voi-cach-giai-rat-doc-dao-2405795.html