Maths Olympiad
In Round 1 of the British Mathematics Olympiad, Sahl Khan (Sixth form, Year 11) came 4th in the UK, James Aaronson (Lower Eighth, Year 12) 11th and Nicholas Leung (Upper Eighth, Year 13) 19th. Congratulations to all three on such remarkable performances.
About one thousand students nationwide are invited to sit the British Maths Olympiad after their performances in the Senior Maths Challenge. Round 1 consists of six taxing questions, to be attempted in three and a half hours.
The first, and easiest, question this year was: ‘One number is removed from the set of integers from 1 to n. The average of the remaining numbers is 40.75 . Which integer was removed?’ The last question was solved by only two students: ‘Let a, b and c be the lengths of the sides of a triangle. Suppose that ab+bc+ca = 1. Show that (a+1)(b+1)(c+1) < 4.’
Ahead lies Round 2, sat by just 100 students, and the chance of a place in the British Maths Team and the International Maths Olympiad.
