PE maths whizzes shine in challenge

EASTERN Cape mathematics boffins flew the provincial flag high at the recently held schools South African Mathematics Team Competition, in which Port Elizabeth’s Senior A team came second.

The Port Elizabeth Senior A team were just narrowly edged out by the Western Province A team.

The competition, open to schools in Southern Africa and sponsored by the Actuarial Society of South Africa, consists of two rounds, with team and individual sessions.

Each region can enter two teams of 10: Junior (Grades 8 and 9), Senior (Grades 10, 11 and 12) – and may also enter B, C and D teams at each level if they want to.

The first part of the competition is a one-hour individual problem paper, consisting of 15 problems in multiple-choice format.

The second paper consists of 10 difficult problems, with the teams working together to submit one set of answers.

Questions were sent to the 50 teams from around Southern Africa, who took on the challenge in their respective cities.

The answers were then e-mailed to the South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF) in Pretoria, where the papers were marked.

Eastern Cape PE senior team coach Dr Vasuthavan Govender said: “Our teams did fairly well in this competition . . . However, I want to make special mention of our Eastern Cape PE Senior team, which came out second.

“This team scored a magnificent 900 points out of a possible 1 000 points in the team question part of the competition. Of all the teams that participated, only Western Province A scored more points than our team.

“As you can see, these pupils are fine young mathematicians. They have done their families, schools, Port Elizabeth and the Eastern Cape proud.”