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| Palmerston North Girls’ High School students Maddie Rowan (left), Kate Costello and Aneka Patel. Photo: Massey University |
The competition was organised by the Mathematics and Statistics group in the Institute of Fundamental Sciences as a way to engage students with mathematics and statistics through fun and challenging problems.
Students worked their way through 35 questions of increasing difficulty for one mark each before tackling a more difficult “finisher” question where the mark depended on speed and accuracy of answer.
In the end, the boys’ team from Wanganui High School won with a total of 23 out of 35 questions correct.
Connor Cresswell from the team said the hardest part of the competition was timing.
“Knowing when to pass was really important because we only had an hour so we had to time it right.”
Tutor in statistics Anne Lawrence says she is delighted to see the event grow from 16 schools last year to 21 this year.
“Last year the students and their teachers clearly enjoyed the challenge of solving our problems.There is quite a bit for them to get their heads round in terms of working as a team, deciding how long to struggle with a particular question, and of course, applying their mathematical and statistical thinking to tackle the problems.”
Director of the Mathematics in Industry group at Massey University Professor Emeritus Graeme Wake says mathematical skills are applicable now, more than ever.
“Many industry and community problems can benefit from a mathematical or statistical approach. Worldwide, countries have discovered that mathematics is a high-tech thing that can add value to their enterprise.”
“Mathematics is everywhere and can underpin everything. This is something not everyone appreciates.”
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The history of Massey University
Massey University has grown from a small agricultural college in Palmerston North to become New Zealand's largest residential university spread over three cities. Massey University now has three campuses in the North Island, and the highest number of extramural students.
Massey offers the only veterinary science programmes in New Zealand. Massey also offers the only Bachelor of Aviation degree in New Zealand. Massey University qualifications are recognised worldwide and several programmes have international accreditation.
From 85 students in the first year, Massey now has over 35,000 internal and extramural students.
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Source: Massey News (press release)
