"Maths is an infinite beautiful puzzle waiting to be explored, it is spontaneous and exciting, and that is why I love it," he said.
"I also admire how maths can be used in other fields such as business, engineering and science. I'm really interested in the way maths is used in string theory for example and part of my goal is to discover maths that can benefit the world."
For Pang, everything has come fast.
By the age of 2, he could do Sudoku number puzzles. He was nine when he scored 91 per cent in the Cambridge A-Level exam, normally taken by senior high school students, looking to win a place at university.
He was 11 when he gave a TEDx Talk to 500 people, and by 14 had tutored a first-year university maths class.
Pang's family moved to New Zealand from the UK when he was 4-years-old and by that stage it was already clear he was special.
Mum Elaine Pang said it hasn't always been easy giving her son the help he needed to take advantages of his gifts.
"To do the best for your gifted child takes extra time and effort and because it's not the usual developmental path for children, it can be lonely as a parent at times," he said.
An enthusiastic swimmer, Tristan's schedule is a busy round of public speaking, teaching at undergraduate level, mentoring, and participating in a specially designed programme under the Kupe Leadership Scholarship he was awarded this year.
The scholarship was established to support exceptional postgraduate students who show leadership ability.
He plans to continue researching and teaching at university.
"It's the perfect career for me, I want to do research and as well, I've always liked helping other people so teaching is something I enjoy. As long as I'm doing what makes me happy I'll keep doing it."
