For the first time ever, Sidcot was invited to the annual awards and celebration lecture in London. Following the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in July, the evening was an opportunity to hear about the successes of the United Kingdom Maths teams in various competitions building up to the IMO and the achievement of finishing 20th out of over 100 countries.
On the trip to London, we had a set of puzzles to work through on the train to warm up our minds. Apparently sunflower seeds are the snack of choice for Sixth Form mathematicians!
Walking from Paddington to Westminster we took the opportunity to take in the sights seeing Brunel at the station followed by Buckingham Palace:
The awards part of the evening was a fascinating insight into the preparation and commitment at the top level, with one member of the UK IMO team having made the decision to sacrifice his position in the UK Youth Orchestra to focus on Maths. Having been part of two UK teams at the IMO he has certainly made a success of his chosen path.
Subsequently we were lucky to have a talk from Dr Jeremy King, the outgoing Chair of the UK Mathematical Olympiad Committee and prolific problem setter for various competitions. His talk was on a particular problem of his called the “The Romanian Polygon Game” – in particular how a careful analysis of the structure generates a winning strategy. Starting with references to simpler games such as Noughts and Crosses, the potential to strategically plot a course through a game was laid out and carefully justified.
This was the first experience of a full length university style lecture for our students and one which helped them see the standards of concentration and intellectual rigour required as they continue their academic studies at Sidcot and beyond.
(Below are our intrepid students pictured in Methodist Central Hall following the talk)
