Maths News 2023-24
After the success of our first World Mathematics Competition in November '23, 9 learners from years 7-8, as well as 6 learners from years 11-13, took part in yet another regional qualifier at UWCSEA East on March 16, with teachers and learners spending the first day of their holidays doing maths!
This time, three of our learners made it to the senior final of the Codebreaker round out of 40 learners from all the schools.
Four learners won 8 medals between them, and Emmanuel won a Golden Ticket to the finals in London in June!
Thanks to all the learners and teachers who gave up their time to make this a success for Nexus Mathematics Learning Area.
Yeonjun Ji John Jagoda Junnan Saw
Quynh Garson Kayla You Miya He
Ayaansh Dey Eason Ma Henry Griffiths
Emmanuel Lim Tai Le Jackson He
Felix Barnes Vedant Markan Anton Portell
University of Waterloo CEMC Visiting Professor
On Wednesday, the 13th of March, Nexus welcomed Professor Jeff Anderson from the University of Waterloo's Mathematics Department. Professor Anderson presented a workshop on problem solving. It was a great opportunity for all our talented mathematics learners to be challenged and to think critically and creatively as they stretched their mathematical muscles. In a group setting, Professor Anderson led our learners through a variety of maths problems with tips and tricks for how best to approach them. He also shared many free resources for learners to enrich their maths knowledge and explained why maths education is so important in today’s global economy.
Pearson Edexcel Further Pure Mathematics
In November, one of our learners, Minh Le, was invited by the exam board Pearson to an awards ceremony for outstanding results. In Further Pure Mathematics, Minh achieved the highest mark in Singapore.
Congratulations Minh!
In November, 12 Nexus learners took part in the World Mathematics Championships Regional Qualifier at UWCSEA Dover. Two of our learners* made it to the final of the Codebreaker round out of 90 learners from all the schools.
Two learners won medals, and Divyansh won a Golden Ticket to the finals in Melbourne!
Julian Dizon Ben Faber Yeonjun Ji Rayed Siddiqui Krishna Udupi
McQueen Fan* Adela Gao Amelia Wang Kayla You Chongyun Zhao
Melody Yuan (Bronze medal) Divyansh Ghosh* (Silver medal)
On November 25th, 12 of us learners ranging from years 8 to 10 and Mr Cairns went to UWCSEA Dover for the World Mathematics Competition. It was a nerve-racking experience, seeing as this was all of our first time at a competition like this; however, we learned a lot. One of our learners, Divyansh Ghosh from year 10, even did well enough to win a Golden Ticket to Melbourne, Australia to compete in the finals!
At first we had to perform our Inspiration Task - to act out a short drama performance on how a randomly chosen mathematician from the 17th or 18th century has contributed to one of the UN SDGs and helped the world. This tested both our mathematical knowledge and stretched our creativity by making us think about how maths has helped the world, while explaining these concepts in an understandable way.
Next was the Pursuit round. In this round, our team had to solve maths equations in a 30-minute time limit, each assigned to a letter, and then run around a huge circle to submit our solution to the corresponding examiner who would check our answers. It was very tiring - both mentally and physically! We were challenged by things that were way out of our textbook, and that combined different mathematical concepts in order to solve them. Additionally, if more teams submitted a correct answer before you, the points you would get if you submitted the answer would decrease, encouraging you to solve these questions ASAP.
Afterwards we watched the finals for the Codebreaker round we took online. Codebreaker is a round where you are given an input and output, and you have to find the pattern or rule in order to find the next input. Our own Divyansh from Year 10 and McQueen from Year 9 got to compete in front of the rest of around 80-90 other participants. Very nice!
The penultimate round was the Shuttle round. A round in which you and your two other teammates are split up, and the answers from their problems are what you use to solve your own problems. If even one person messes up, all the problems are messed up! Scary! This round tested both the strength of the whole team and the individual strengths of all the members.
Lastly, we had the Lightning round which involved - more running! Your team solved a problem collectively, and then employed one person to run across the room to your designated examiner to check your answer. If you got it right the first time - 3 points. Second time - 2 points. Successive attempts - 1 point. There was intense music blaring and a large timer on screen which further emphasised the fast-paced nature of this round. In total, we had 90 minutes to solve all the questions, which again employed different concepts which may or may not have been in your textbook.
Overall, it was a fun and very informative experience where we got to experience new things and broadened our horizons and made us learn a lot of things in a short amount of time. I hope to continue again next year and do better, especially now that we know how it works.
Julian Dizon , Year 10
There will be another event like this in March, 2024. If you would like to take part, please speak to your maths teacher.