Jack is a member of the maths department. A graduate of UBC with a BSc of Science in Mathematics, he was admitted on scholarship and achieved high level of academic achievement during his studies. Prior to joining ITS, Jack was a private banking analyst at HSBC & Credit Suisse for 2 years. His role was to interpret financial statements in terms of actuarial maths and this experience helps him teach students maths at and beyond high school levels and give them insights on how to build their career in Math.

Becoming a teacher: 
My passion lies in helping people. I desire to share my knowledge so that everyone can succeed in life. I enjoy students asking questions. They give me different approaches on comprehending theories and reinforce my understanding on the materials. While the students learn from me, I take credits from them, a mutual learning. 

I also like to develop arcade games strategies through statistics. In probability, when a chance is above 50%, it means that the event is likely to occur. A game character’s skill is built on probability. There are 3 cards, red, yellow and blue. Red and yellow cards are effective against opponents. The probability of getting them is 2/3 ~ 67%. This means when I throw 100 cards, I have 50 and a bonus of 17 red or yellow cards advantage on playing against my opponent. In other words, it is likely to have cards that are effective against my opponent. I love this stuff and love helping my students understand it too.

The person I most admire in maths: 
Isaac Newton. I admire his perseverance and passion on science. His curiosity on ‘why’ and ‘how’ an apple falls down from a tree drives him to find the answers. He conducts series of experiments to discover laws of gravity and apply algebraic models to depict motions of projectiles. He developed calculus, a mathematical foundation for physics.

A person I find inspirational: 
Bruce Lee. Challenges exist in life. We must learn to adapt and become stronger. We pursue to a next level of challenge and succeed, a continuing growth. Bruce Lee expresses a similar idea in martial arts. He takes the shapelessness of water to describe the flexibility of life. ‘If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. If you put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or crash. Be water my friend.’

Top tip to my younger self: 
Know your strengths and weakness. Open to new techniques to improve my weaknesses and enhance my strengths.