Former UK PM Rishi Sunak and Wife Akshata Murty Showcase Mathematical Skills in Charity Challenge

Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty recently engaged in an entertaining and competitive mathematics challenge as part of their charitable initiative, The Richmond Project, which aims to enhance education and numeracy skills throughout the United Kingdom.

In the recorded challenge, the couple positioned themselves next to buzzers while a volunteer presented various mathematics questions ranging from basic fractions to factorization exercises. The competition required participants to press the buzzer first and provide the correct answer.

"I'm feeling quite nervous, especially competing against you," Murty admitted before they began. Sunak replied confidently, "I feel great because it's win-win for me."

Sunak demonstrated quick reflexes from the beginning. When asked to simplify the fraction 12/18, he promptly hit the buzzer and correctly answered "Two-thirds." Murty protested humorously, claiming "I screamed it," which elicited laughter from Sunak.

For the next question regarding prime factors of 40, Sunak again secured the point by answering "Two and five." Murty jokingly observed, "He's drawn a factor tree! Who does that?" to which Sunak responded, "People who've done prime factorisation homework with their kids."

When asked to convert 20 percent into a fraction, both answered "one-fifth" simultaneously. "I yelled it! What more should I do?" Murty exclaimed in mock frustration.

Following their friendly competition, Sunak complimented his wife: "I thought you did very well. I was getting stressed, not about the maths, but about losing. Badly."

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The couple both possess impressive academic credentials. Sunak graduated with First-Class Honours in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford's Lincoln College. He subsequently earned an MBA from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar.

It was during his time at Stanford that Sunak met Akshata Murty, daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy. She was also pursuing an MBA at Stanford's Graduate School of Business after completing her undergraduate studies in Economics and French at Claremont McKenna College in California.

Earlier this year, the couple returned to Stanford as commencement speakers for the Class of 2025. During the ceremony, Murty described her Stanford experience as "nothing short of transformational," noting how the campus had significantly impacted both their lives. She shared an amusing anecdote about an admissions officer who had predicted their relationship based on their application essays. "Twenty years and two daughters later," she remarked, "Stanford turned out to be a great matchmaking service."