Young maths enthusiasts from across Canberra, Sydney, Wollongong and surrounding regions converged on ANU last week to battle it out in a test of mind and muscles at ANU Maths Day.

On Friday 29 May, the ANU Mathematical Sciences Institute hosted 160 year 11 and 12 students from 26 schools as they attempted mathematical challenges designed to build teamwork skills and promote a love of math.

Three of the Canberra Girls Grammar School students competing in the event, Julia Potgieter, Cindy Zhu and Meghna Burmi all said that the day was lots of fun and provided a different way of thinking about maths.

“We were given different types of activities and we worked through them with our team. It was challenging but it broadened the way that we think about problems,” said Meghna Burmi.

Year 11 student Cindy Zhu added, “It helped me to think about problem solving from different perspectives and try and tackle a problem in different ways.”

Along with giving the students practical skills in problem solving, the day also highlighted the importance of working as a team, especially when time was running out to complete an activity.

“At start of each problem we all sort of did our own thing and then we realised that you can’t do it on your own, we had to tackle to the challenge together and work it out together,” explained Canberra Girls Grammar School Year 12 student Julia Potgieter.

“All the challenges were different but for one challenge we had 45 minutes to work on 20 questions. We had to split up all the questions because no one could tackle it all at once.”

With teamwork being the key to success, ANU Maths Day isn’t all about being the cleverest or the brightest. Activities are formulated to ensure that everyone can have a go and have fun while taking part in some healthy and rigorous competition.

Canberra Girls Grammar School had two teams competing, with their best team placed sixth at the end of the day.

The winning team was Canberra College, closely followed by Canberra Grammer School in second place. The regional shield went to Southern Highlands Christian School.