Viewing archives for Maths

QE’s youngest boys had to combine individual talent and good teamwork to succeed in the inter-House Year 7 Maths Fair at the end of the summer term.

Inspired by the UK Mathematics Trust’s Team Maths Challenge events, the Mathematics department’s annual morning of activities pits the six Houses against each other.

The boys take part in a carousel of mathematical challenges, some of which are more familiar problem-solving (such as the round entitled A Question of Maths), while others major on the practical (such as tangrams, which involve putting together seven flat shapes to create a specified shape).

One highlight of the event is the relay round, which combines speed in movement around the room with mental speed in solving a mathematical problem.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “The idea is to show boys that mathematical problems come in many different formats as well as to help them to develop team-working skills.”

The overall winners were Pearce, with 767 points; second was Broughton, with 740, and third, Underne, with 688. Pearce were subsequently presented with a trophy – the Scarisbrick Shield – in assembly.

“From electricity to football, Maths is all around us. Winning the Maths Fair is an unforgettable achievement,” said Haris Shahid from Pearce.

This was the second year in which Year 12 pupils have supported the event. Each Year 7 team was supervised by one of the sixth-formers, who also provided essential logistical support for the fair.

Paying tribute to the Year 12 boys for their contribution and noting that they had themselves taken part in a similar Year 7 Maths Fair back in 2014, Miss Fung said: “The event would not have been able to run without their help. The sixth-formers certainly enjoyed issuing red cards to any Year 7 boys who did not follow the relay ‘no-running’ policy!”

All six Houses were also required to create a poster entitled What is Mathematics? Each of the multiple teams within each house had to create a part of the poster. They were asked to prepare in advance by coordinating the different sections so that their poster would encompass the many facets of Mathematics.

Having been chosen as the winning poster, Broughton’s entry was displayed in the Mathematics department.

From spelling and writing poetry to solving number and logic puzzles, more than 50 visiting Year 5 pupils faced a busy schedule when they took part in QE’s Primary Challenge Day.

Now in its fifth year, the event attracted entrants from a record-equalling 14 local schools, who each sent a team of four competitors.

The challenge is organised to offer local pupils the opportunity to compete in an enjoyable and stimulating setting; it involves activities focusing on English and Mathematics. Each round of the competition brought a fresh, often interactive, challenge.

Teachers Philip Brady and Marco Saccardi, of the Mathematics Department, and Sarah Snowdon and Panayiota Menelaou, of the English department, helped throughout the morning by running one of the rounds each and chatting to the participants. In addition, all the teams were allocated a Year 7 QE pupil to help them feel at home and support them.

The overall winners were Woodridge Primary School. Trent CE Primary School won the Limerick round, while the Shuttle round went to Underhill School. Foulds triumphed in the Spelling Bee and the Crossnumber round was won by Colindale Primary School.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “The visiting teams clearly thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I have to thank all the staff and QE boys who worked tirelessly to make the event such a success and make our visitors feel welcome. A number of our Year 7 boys also acted as runners on the day. It’s a less glamorous job but was vital, nonetheless, in ensuring the day ran smoothly and that our guests were well looked after.”

The event was started by Assistant Head Michael Feven, who stressed to the Year 5 pupils that the main aim of the challenge was for them to have fun and enjoy themselves. At the end, Headmaster Neil Enright congratulated all the participants and presented the winners with their certificates.

A QE team came 15th out of 88 national finalists in this year’s Team Maths Challenge, placing them in the top 1% of the many hundreds of schools who originally entered the competition.

The team, drawn from Years 8 and 9, reached the national final at the Royal Horticultural Halls by winning their regional heat in March.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “Over 1,700 teams enter the challenge, so to reach the national final is an incredible achievement in itself. As our boys scored a total of 187 points out of 214, it was very clearly a closely fought competition.

“The team were building on an impressive record of achievement in recent years: last year, QE placed 11th and in 2017 we took 17th place.”

Captain Ansh Jassra, of Year 9, and his team of Maxwell Johnson (Year 8), Arnie Sahi (Year 9) and Nishant Sahoo (Year 8) competed against some of the country’s most famous schools, such as Eton College, who came second behind the winners, Bancroft’s School, from Essex.

Ansh said: “It was a really fun day out with lots of challenge. We loved working as a team and it was a memorable experience.”

The event, which was run by the UK Mathematics Trust, consisted of five rounds.

The poster round had a theme of Straight Edge and Compass Constructions, which allowed the pupils to investigate high-level geometry such as Euclid’s postulates, constructing regular polygons (and determining which ones can be constructed).

The activity rounds were:

• Group circus, which involved working on practical Mathematics problems
• Relay race, demanding a combination of physical speed across the room and mental speed in solving mathematical problems
• Crossnumber, the mathematical equivalent of a crossword
• Shuttle, which was a series of mini relays against the clock.

This year’s Junior Maths Challenge brought both group and individual success, with the number of pupils taking gold breaking the 200 barrier and one boy winning the Best in School accolade for the second year running.

All boys from Years 7 and 8 took part in the UK Mathematics Trust competition and 202 of them were awarded gold certificates – a sharp increase on the last two years’ figures of 154 and 174.

A further 118 boys took silver and 34 won bronze, which means that in total, 354 boys, or 92% of the QE entrants, received gold, silver or bronze. Across the country, only the top 40% of entrants receive these certificates, which are awarded in the ratio 1:2:3.

Year 8’s Maxwell Johnson’s score of 130 out of a possible 135 won him the Best in School title for the second time, while Kovid Gothi was Best in Year 7, with 128. “I am very happy to have matched my score from last year. The only thing in the way now is the Olympiad!” said Maxwell, while Kovid said simply that he was “overjoyed” at his score.

Twenty high-fliers have qualified for the Junior Maths Olympiad and a further 115 won places in the Challenge’s other follow-on round, the Junior Kangaroo.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “We are delighted with how well the boys have done and look forward to the results of the Olympiad and Kangaroo. Much of the success stems from the excellent guidance and help given to Year 8 at our Élite Maths (Junior) sessions by the Year 10 and 11 mentors: we are very grateful to the mentors for giving up their time and passing on their wisdom.”

This year’s leading national Mathematics competition for Years 9–11 features a QE boy in each 50-strong group of the top prize-winners.

Across the whole country, only 50 young mathematicians from each of the three year groups competing in the 2019 Intermediate Olympiad won the top prizes.

Even to reach the Olympiad is a significant achievement – it is open only to the top 500 performers in each year group in the UK Mathematics Trust’s Intermediate Challenge – so it took very strong performances by Shankar Vallinayagam, of Year 9, Dan Suciu, of Year 10, and James Tan, of Year 11, to win a place among the country’s very best.

In fact, James’ score of 53 out of 60 smashed through the threshold for winning one of the sought-after book prizes by a full ten points. He said later that he had found the geometry question particularly interesting, while Shankar added: “I like abstract Maths and that’s what the Olympiad is.”

And in a related Mathematics competition, the European Kangaroo, Jude Hill, of Year 9, achieved a perfect score of 135 out of 135. This is a rare feat, achieved in previous years by only two or three internationally. (The total number of perfect scores this year has yet to be confirmed).

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “My congratulations go to these four talented young mathematicians on performing so well under pressure.”

In total, 30 QE boys took part in the Olympiad – an increase on last year’s figure of 27 – and almost all of them won book prizes, medals, distinction certificates or merit certificates. Year 9’s Aran Ismail, Ansh Jassra, Arnie Sahi and Mukund Soni were medal-winners. Abhinav Santhiramohan, of Year 10, was awarded a distinction certificate. And 20 boys won merit certificates.

A further 139 QE boys from Years 9-11 took part in the Intermediate Challenge’s other follow-on round, the European Kangaroo, with 47 of them awarded merit certificates. (This competition is organised by Kangourou sans Frontières, an independent association that was inspired by the Australian Mathematics Trust, hence the name.)

In addition to Jude’s perfect score, the top scorers in the other year groups were Year 11 pupil Rakul Maheswaran, with 112 points, together with Amudhu Anandarajah and Alexandre Lee, of Year 10, who both scored 106. Jude said afterwards that he enjoyed the opportunity the Kangaroo offered to “apply your knowledge in new contexts”.

Here is one of the ‘easier’ questions from this year’s Year 9 Intermediate Olympiad papers. The triangle ABC is isosceles with AB = BC. The point D is a point on BC, between B and C, so that AC = AD = BD. What is the size of angle ABC? (Scroll down for answer).

Answer: the angle ABC is 36 degrees.

Year 8 House teams pitted their wits against each other in QE’s very own Maths Circus.

Inspired by the UK Mathematics Trust’s Maths Challenge events, the circus includes a number of rounds that involve both mathematical problem-solving and practical challenges.

Each team was supervised by a Year 12 or 13 Further Mathematics A-level student, while sixth-formers also helped with the logistics of running the overall event.

Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “Now in its second year, the Year 8 Maths Circus follows on from the Year 7 Maths Fair, with the idea being to show boys that mathematical problems come in many different formats, as well as to help them to develop team-working skills.

“The event could not have been run without the help of the sixth-formers and it was a great opportunity for the older boys to interact with Year 8: the Maths department is always grateful for the support they provide so cheerfully and reliably.”

The morning of activities first involved a carousel of activities such as Crossnumber (a mathematical version of a crossword) and Origami. All teams then took part in the Relay, for which they had to combine speed of movement around the room with speed in solving a mathematical problem.

The overall winners of the Maths Circus were Pearce with 569 points, beating second-placed Harrisons’ by just one point. Third place went to Broughton, on 549. Pearce were later presented with their certificate and the Robinson-Leong Shield in assembly. The shield is named after Oliver Robinson (a 2018 leaver) and current Year 13 pupil Samuel Leong, who both donated prizes they had won through the Jack Petchey Foundation to the Mathematics department.

In a related challenge, all six Houses were also required to construct a hanging mobile. There were teams within each House, all of which were required to create part of the mobile, having been asked to prepare in advance by coordinating the different sections so that their mobile would encompass their ideas about the many facets of Mathematics.

The prize for best mobile went to Leicester. This was also presented in assembly.

Afterwards, pairs of boys from the winning Year 8 teams were asked to sum up their feelings. Maxwell Johnson and Sthujan Jeyasingarajah said: “We are proud to have led Pearce to victory this year. We owe it to the exceptional effort made by everyone.” For Leicester, Divyesh Bansal and Aarav Thakur said: ‘We really enjoyed the entire day and it was a great opportunity to do Maths whilst also being creative and fun. It was the best!”