Senior Maths Challenge

'Why did the chicken cross the Mobius Strip? To get to the other... er... um.'

If this is a joke you find funny, you would have loved participating in the Senior Team Maths Challenge. On Monday 16 November, Sheena, Kristy, Catherine and Vivian from Wycombe Abbey School competed in the regional round in Reading.

The heat consisted of three rounds, which lasted for three hours in total. With ten questions to be completed in 40 minutes, our strategy was to work individually and then to collate them in the end; this seemed to have worked out as we scored highly in the Group Round, after which we were in the lead.

The second round involved solving a mathematical 'cross-number ' puzzle. We were divided into two teams, with one working on the across clues and the other working on the down clues. This was particularly challenging as the majority of the answers depended on the other team's answers, without which we could not proceed! What's more, we were not allowed to communicate between the pairs, which made the compilation of solutions all the more taxing.

Lastly, still working in pairs, we had the mini-relay round, in which the answer to each question was needed for the other pair to solve their problem completely. Coming seventh out of 21 schools, it was a very enjoyable and fun experience and one that we would recommend to any mathematicians.

Sheena

Vivian

Vivian and Catherine

Sheena and Vivian

Sheena