By Miss Lau (Mathematics Teacher)

On Wednesday 26th April, Year 8 students in sets 1 and 2 and all the Year 7 students participated in the UKMT Junior Mathematical Challenge. The Mathematical Challenge is a 1 hour, 25 question multiple choice paper and aims to stimulate mathematical problem solving.  It encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought and fluency in using basic mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems. The questions on the paper are designed to challenge students to think, not to guess. No calculators allowed!

An example of a question on this year’s paper is:

To save money, Scrooge is reusing tea bags. After a first ‘decent’ cup of tea, he dries the bag and uses two such dried bags to make a new ‘decent’ cup of tea. These bags are then dried again and four such bags now make a ‘decent’ cup of tea. After that they are put on the compost heap. How many ‘decent’ cups of tea can Scrooge get out of a new box of 120 tea bags?

A 480     B 240     C 210     D 195     E 180

The students had a chance to get a bronze, silver or gold certificate (in the ratio 3:2:1) if they were in the top 50% of the UK from all those students taking the challenge. Twenty-one students in Year 8 achieved a bronze certificate and six achieved silver certificate - Shalome Kirupakaran, Emily Pugsley, Zara Saleem, Josephine Longmore, Katie Partridge (also awarded Best in Year), and Elisa Patel (also awarded Best in Year). In Year 7, thirteen girls achieved bronze certificates, five achieved silver certificates - Flavia Genovese, Laura Mahony, Helena Gordon, Heidi Krailing, and Crystal Walters (also awarded Best in School). A big congratulations to all these students!

View photos of the mathematicians here.