A budding young mathematician has scooped the high numbers, placing in the top 100 Year 11 students in a nationwide maths challenge.
Nelson Wong, received a bronze medal for his achievements in the Intermediate Maths Olympiad last month.
The Olympiad is a tough nationwide follow-on competition which approximately 1,000 students are invited to take part in, based on a top performance in the Intermediate Maths Challenge.
For the challenge, students sit a 60-minute, multiple-choice test which encourages ‘mathematical reasoning, precision of thought and fluency in mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems’.
Simply qualifying for the Olympiad is an achievement in itself, and this year two of our Year 11 students, Nelson and Kaan Ozarikan, got through.
Kaan performed very well, earning a certificate of merit, while Nelson really had a good day, gaining a bronze medal, which places him in the top 100 Year 11 students across the entire country.
The paper consists of six very difficult questions to be answered in two hours.
Maths teacher Lewis Hart said:
“There are several excellent mathematicians in Year 11, many of whom are well on track for a grade 9 in their GCSEs. Kaan and Nelson are two of these students, who are continuously working hard to extend and broaden their mathematical skills and knowledge, particularly in problem solving and logical reasoning, which is tested to its limit in the Maths Olympiad. I’m very proud of these students as they’re not content to settle with relying on natural talent to be just good at maths, but have worked hard to become absolutely brilliant at maths! They also keep me on my toes as a maths teacher, as they’re often asking questions that challenge my own subject knowledge.”
Here’s question four from this year’s paper – can you work out the answer?
The ratio of the number of red beads on a chain to the number of yellow beads is the same as the ratio of the number of yellow beads to the number of blue beads. There are 30 more blue beads than red ones. How many red beads could be on the chain?
Answer here
