28 May 2004

School children lift their winning mugs

Photo opportunity: 3:15pm, Tuesday June 1, University of Dundee, Bonar Hall

School children from Tayside, Fife and the Central region will be awarded their 'Mathematical Challenge' mugs and certificates after scooping gold and silver awards in the 2003 - 2004 Mathematical Challenge. The presentations will be made at the University of Dundee's Bonar Hall on Tuesday June 1.

To complete the year long Scottish Mathematical Council's (SMC) challenge, children from across Scotland have used their elementary techniques and simple logic to solve a number of mathematical problems that would stump many of their parents. Over one thousand primary and secondary pupils from Tayside, Fife and the Central region entered the challenge and two hundred of those have won gold, silver and bronze awards.

On the day, the young mathematicians will also find out about the mathematical properties of barcodes such as those on their favourite chocolate bars and cereal boxes. Likely to be of more interest to the parents and teachers in the audience, Ian Anderson of the Scottish Mathematical Council will also divulge the real meaning behind the long strings of numbers on credit cards.

"We have had an incredible response from children across the local regions," explains Giles Thomas, Lecturer in Statistics at the University of Dundee and a Scottish Mathematical Council National Organiser. "The Mathematical Challenge encourages children to engage with the subject in a way they might not in their day to day school lessons. It shows that children want to be involved in the subject and they have successfully tackled mathematical problems of which many adults would struggle."

Notes for Editors

Past problems and their solutions can be found on the Scottish Mathematical Council's website at www.scot-maths.co.uk

For further information please contact Giles Thomas on 01382 344475

By Angela Durcan, Press Officer 01382 344768, out of hours: 07968298585, a.durcan@dundee.ac.uk