Maths win keep adding up for school

The winning Whanganui High School team in action, from left to right: Ben Power, Ahimsha Saravanapavan and Nanea Schurhammer.
Photo / Supplied

The wins keep coming for Whanganui High School students as they have won the M3S: Massey Manawatu Maths and Stats Competition for a second consecutive year.

The winning team of Ben Power, Ahimsha Saravanapavan and Nanea Schurhammer faced stiff competition from 22 other teams from Taranaki to Kapiti.

It has been running for five years and this is Whanganui High School's third time winning the competition that tests teams on problems that require skill and time management.

Massey University senior mathematics tutor, Dr Cami Sawyer, said it was great to see the students working hard and sharing ideas with each other to solve challenging problems.

"Days like this provide mathematically gifted students a chance to showcase their talent, work in groups and see mathematics and statistics as more than subjects, but actual study paths at university and careers.

"These days provide better reflections of real mathematics careers, as working in groups to solve problems is more reflective of the industry than sitting at a desk alone solving problems in isolation with a 3-hour time limit."

This year, the format of the competition for Year 12 students changed to a quiz-like format with five rounds.

Teams got all the questions at once and had fixed periods of time to answer them, ranging from 10 to 12 minutes.

Head of the institute of fundamental sciences professor Martin Hazelton hoped the students would stick with these disciplines.

"The jobs we have today and increasingly the jobs of the future will need the skills you have demonstrated today," he said.

"So keep at it in class and it is going to pay-off in your future careers."

By Jesse King
Wanganui Chronicle 2/7/18