Scottish Mathematical Challenge

Gold Award winners attended the Scottish Mathematical Challenge Award Ceremony at Strathclyde University recently.

It has been another successful year in the Scottish Mathematical Challenge for our pupils, receiving Gold, Silver, and Bronze Awards. The competition requires pupils to work on a handful of interesting problems over several weeks. This is highly beneficial as pupils learn to grapple with challenging problems and then practice writing up their solutions in formal mathematics. These skills help in SQA Mathematics courses and other subjects where problem-solving, and communication, are valued.

Our nine Gold Award winners travelled to the Mathematics Department at Strathclyde University last week where they enjoyed taking part in a seminar on mathematical graph theory. Although run annually by the Scottish Mathematical Council, the award ceremony was the first to take place since the covid pandemic, which made the event even more enjoyable.

Pupils learned about the classical Königsberg Bridge Problem, which asks whether it is possible to cross all the bridges in the ancient city of Königsberg, if you are only allowed to cross each bridge exactly once. Mathematicians can try it out using the picture below:

Maths Teacher, Mr Kilgour, advised:

“The problem can be solved using a graph of the connections between the rivers banks, as any underground map shows the connections (but not necessarily the distances) between stations.”

“Amazingly, it can be proven mathematically that it is not possible to complete the mission, as instructed. This quickly led into an exploration of how matrices and Dijkstra’s Algorithm can be used to solve problems in graph theory.”

Highlights from the day included pupils watching how airlines use graphs to design flight schedules between airports across the world, as well as viewing an image of the entire internet represented by a mathematical graph. There was much to inspire everyone, both in the enjoyment of the mathematics but also its applications to the real world.

Following a break, it was time for our Gold Award winners to be presented with their certificates. To a round of applause, pupils were delighted to receive their certificates and a mug – a sought after collectors’ items in the mathematical school world!

• Bronze: Eshal (S1), Sophie (S1), Idhant (S1), and Hamdaan (S1)
• Silver: Haris (S1), Ayana (S1), and Amima (S5)
• Gold: April (S1), Ayyan (S1), Erion (S1), Lucy (S2), and Emily (S2)

• Bronze: Thenoo (S3), and Maryam (S4)
• Silver: Siri (S4)
• Gold: Myles (S3)

• Silver: Craig (S5)
• Gold: Daniel (S6) and Tom (S6)