In 2012, while attending an Entrepreneurship class in Senior 5 at Nyagatare Secondary School, Serge Tuyihimbaze requested to be given only two weeks to come up with a formula, solving an equation that seemed impossible at the time.

The 28-year-old’s request came at a time when even his then-favourite teacher could not attempt to solve the equation, let alone classmates.

His love for Mathematics made him to regularly scribble equations and plot graphs on his desk, even during lessons.

"During that period, I visited the library often, consulted different studies and books, but I could not get the formula,” he told The New Times in an exclusive interview.

Until I finally chose to work it out, he added, I picked up a small notebook, delved into numbers which I failed almost all the time, used it to try again, but I later came up with the solution.

"When I submitted my solution, my teacher could not believe it, he said more evaluation was needed and that’s how it (solution) was recommended to the Ministry of Education.”

Ten years later, Tuyihimbaze’s Mathematics Formulae for Polynomials was validated by the Ministry of Education, a move he described as a milestone towards contributing to Knowledge Creation.

The curiosity of digging deeper into his passion and the ability of connecting dots, according to Tuyihimbaze, paved the way for the development.

What is the formula about?

Ordinarily, a formula is a fact or a rule written with mathematical symbols. It usually connects two or more quantities with an equal sign.

When you know the value of one quantity, you can find the value of the other using the formula.

It helps to solve questions quickly. In algebra, geometry and other topics, formulas are used to simplify the process of reaching the answer and saving time.

Therefore, the formulae developed by Tuyihimbaze solves multi-variable polynomials.

Polynomials can also be explained as an expression of more than two algebraic terms, especially the sum of several terms that contain different powers of the same variable(s).

"Today, I am happy that at least at national level, with guidance of different mathematicians, we managed to validate that the formula works and specific equations,” he said.

"And I believe that even globally, given that my mentor has international expertise, there is a higher probability that it will be accepted, making it useful for our education and industry.”

What it means

The next step, Tuyimbaze says, is for the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to certify, in order to maximize the formula’s value.

Once certified, the UN agency publishes and distributes books to schools.

"Because students need new knowledge,” he added.

At the level of industry, Tuyihimbaze highlighted that, all mathematical formulae are converted into computer algorithms, which help people interact with machines.

"And also different devices. For instance, for a drone to fly without or with a pilot, it is following instructions, and these are technically computer algorithms. And these algorithms follow certain mathematical formulae.”

According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate, as technological advancements continue to transform the global economy at an increasingly rapid pace, the need to develop the skills and knowledge of the next generation of the workforce is critical.

"Given this is new knowledge, it can be used by different industry players, in different fields, Artificial Intelligence, or Space related engineering.”

Tuyihimbaze, who also doubles as the Co-founder at Leaprlabs – an incubation of young ICT innovators in Rwanda – says he plans to engage the Ministry of ICT and Innovation, the Intellectual Property department at Rwanda Development Board (RDB) to see how this can be turned into a resource that can generate money.

"It doesn’t have to end as just the knowledge to be learnt, but also look at the different applications that we can apply that formula,” he said.

That means this knowledge is a resource of our country. It has to benefit the country.

If this formula is commercialized, it has a big implication for the country. That is how some countries like Israel and other countries generate income. Actually, Israel is widely recognised for its innovation.”

"A few years ago, knowledge was only for education, but today, in a knowledge-based economy, it is also applied.”

Tuyihimbaze explains that formulas are not registered with Rwanda Development Board, because people should be allowed to access knowledge.

However, he adds, mathematical formulas are there to help people know the different applications.

"We are in a very good position to actually discover different applications that we can derive from my formula more than anyone else.”

Previous awards

In 2015 he was awarded "a Global Recognition of excellence in promoting innovative ICT Solutions with social impact, 2015 Entrepreneurship Award” by the International Telecommunication Union – ITU.