Ithar Mohammed Bou Abdel Halim, a young woman who is no more than eighteen years old, turned her hatred of the multiplication table in her childhood into a challenge that was her bridge to excellence at the level of the Arab world, and thanks to it she won two scholarships at the University of Sharjah, and another at King Abdulaziz University.

Eithar says that she was just a little girl who hated the multiplication table like many children, but her parents - who are teachers who have won many certificates and medals for their distinguished successes - were able to transform this hatred into another new relationship that surpassed her relationship with the rest of the subjects.

In middle school, Eithar was able to create the first equation she deduced from the multiplication table (9), the aim of which was to simplify mathematical operations. Her mother encouraged her to publish it, so she put it in one of the forums, and it succeeded and spread, but unfortunately her right was lost.

"Aithar, like many children, hated the multiplication table, so she was able to invent 12 rules to simplify mathematical problems." Aithar's parents noticed her creativity in mathematical problems, so they focused on that a lot. She attended courses on scientific research, mathematics, and creative thinking skills, and was able to invent 12 rules to simplify mathematical operations within her project: (Math Out Of The Box).

Math Out Of The Box Project:

This project aims to simplify mathematical operations using creative thinking skills. It includes 12 innovative rules, with which it passed the first stage of the 2010 International Mathematical Olympiad, but did not qualify for the other stages.

After that, Eithar worked on developing it, and participated with five of its bases in the National Olympiad for Scientific Creativity “Creativity 2011” in the scientific research track, which is organized by Mawhiba in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, and she obtained fifth place at the Kingdom level and a grant to King Abdulaziz University for an open specialization.

She also participated with these five rules in the Intel Science Competition - Arab World 2011 (ISCArab 2011) which was recently held in Sharjah, and won third place in the Arab world, and also received two scholarships to the University of Sharjah in the Emirates, which she considers her most important achievement.

The story of her receiving the scholarship:

(You are creative and your IQ is higher in my estimation than a normal person, and we are honored to have people like you join our university)

This is what the Vice Chancellor of the University of Sharjah said during his visit to the Ithar Project during the judging period for the projects participating in the Intel Science Competition - Arab World, after which she was offered exceptional acceptance at the University of Sharjah.

“I thought it was just a compliment to motivate me, but I was surprised when he sent one of his students to me and invited me to his office to sign the acceptance papers,” says Eithar. “The beautiful thing is that, on the same day, I was offered another scholarship from the same university (University of Sharjah), which is considered one of the best Arab universities.”

This experience did not only provide Eithar with a scholarship, but it also turned her into an inspiring success story, as she was hosted in several places to talk about her project, the story of the beginning, and how her hatred of mathematics turned into a creative love story, and how she crafted her loss in the second stage of the Math Olympiad into a winning story in the National Olympiad "Creativity", and how she won the (Intel Science - Arab World) competition. Eithar presented a course for female scientific research students at Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah, and was recently hosted at the "Saudi and Proud" conference at the same university. She also participated in the (Mecca Corridors Forum) to talk about her project and achievements, in addition to giving a speech to the mathematics teachers in the Education Department in Makkah - Mathematics Department, and other meetings. She received a certificate of appreciation from the Mathematics Department in the Education Department, and another certificate of honor from the Emir of Makkah Al-Mukarramah, His Royal Highness Prince Khalid Al-Faisal.

Ithar: Success is not easy..!

In our interview with her, Eithar says: I would like everyone to know that I did not achieve this success quickly. I failed in one of the competitions in 2010, and I only passed the first stage of the 2010 International and Local Mathematics Olympiad, but I finally succeeded.

“I didn’t achieve this success quickly. I failed in a competition in 2010, but I finally succeeded.”

The most important lesson I learned was that success does not happen the first time, and that success is not easy, nor impossible either..!

Eithar is still a high school student, participating with the rest of the seven rules in the National Olympiad for Practical Creativity, qualifying for the third stage. She has great hope that she will soon collect her innovative rules in a book and publish it for everyone to benefit from, and that she will obtain a scholarship in the field of petroleum engineering or nuclear engineering.