Alexander Gerko, billionaire and founder of the London-based trading company XTX Markets, is opening a private school for children with exceptional mathematical abilities. The 1729 school will be launched on Mill Hill school campus.
Alexander Gerko, billionaire and founder of the London-based trading company XTX Markets, is opening a private school for children with exceptional mathematical abilities. The 1729 Mathematics School will be launched on the campus of the well-known private Mill Hill School, located on 120 acres of scenic land in North London.
Gerko himself attended a specialized math school in Moscow from the age of 12 and, after moving to the UK in 2006, noticed the lack of dedicated mathematical education for mathematically gifted children.
This led to the idea of a specialized mathematics school, which was named the 1729 Maths School, in honor of the Hardy–Ramanujan number.
The 1729 Mathematics School will have its own buildings on the shared campus of Belmont and Mill Hill, and during the school day, its students will join Mill Hill pupils for sports, clubs, and math-related activities.
At the same time, 1729 students will spend significantly more time immersed in mathematics — at least twice as much as in traditional UK schools.
A personalized mathematics curriculum, tailored to the abilities and interests of each student, will be complemented by enriching math circles, clubs, competitions, and lectures.
Enrollment is now open for the 2026 academic year for Years 7 and 9. The first intake will include 18 students in each of these year groups.
Entrance exams will consist of written tests in mathematics and logic, specifically designed for the 1729 School, as well as computer-based adaptive English language tests. Candidates will also participate in a trial math lesson and an interview to demonstrate their mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills.
The tuition fees at the 1729 School will be in line with other private schools in London — £27,675 per year for Years 7–8 and £30,450 for Years 9–13. Boarding fees will range from £44,250 to £52,320 per year.
The 1729 School will offer a generous financial aid program for families unable to pay full tuition. According to Gerko, the scholarship program will be “unprecedented and completely independent of household income.” “From day one, we want to ensure that anyone who deserves to be at the school gets the opportunity,” he emphasizes.
Admission to the school will be on a needs-blind basis — meaning decisions will be made solely on the student’s mathematical ability.
Alexander Gerko is a Russian billionaire and financial trader, founder of XTX Markets, based in the United Kingdom. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics and has authored several academic papers, including one on testing market timing for trading. As of 2025, his net worth is estimated at $14.6 billion, according to Forbes and the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Gerko moved to the UK in 2006. In 2022, after a lengthy legal process, he renounced his Russian citizenship and is now a British citizen.
The Tale of the Number 1729
The number 1729 features in a famous anecdote from A Mathematician’s Apology by the renowned British mathematician G.H. Hardy. In the book, Hardy visits his most famous student — Indian genius Srinivasa Ramanujan — in the hospital and comments that he came in a dull and unremarkable taxi with the number 1729. Ramanujan replies:
“But 1729 is actually a very interesting number — it is the smallest natural number that can be expressed as the sum of two cubes in two different ways!”
