It was a battle of brain and brawn. Hundreds of young Otago mathematicians gathered at the NumberWorks'nWords O'MAthalon mathematics competition in the Edgar Centre yesterday to crunch numbers and chew the fat about things such as hexadecimal base numbers.
"It's great fun. I really like the suspense of it," Kaikorai Primary School pupil Joel Whitcombe (9) said.
"It's lots of fun. You have to solve the problem and then sprint up with the answer," classmate Matthew Pyper (10) said.
There was the odd tumble and skinned knee, but a host of prizes, including the latest Casio scientific calculators, kept the contestants primed.
The annual competition was established by the Otago Mathematics Association in 1977 to encourage children to work as a team to solve mathematics problems.
"It's about making maths fun, rather than just sitting down reading from a book," organiser Ainslie Anderson said.
"All the kids are quite competitive and they love the running and athletic aspect of it. It's good fun."
More than 1000 pupils from 60 Otago schools have taken part in the competition this year.
The senior year (year 11 to 13) competition was held at the Dunedin City Library earlier this month.
Results yesterday were.-Year 5: Kaikorai Primary School, 1; Columba College, 2; George Street Normal School, 3. Year 6: George Street Normal School, 1; Kaikorai Primary School, 2; Columba College, 3. Year 7: John McGlashan College A, 1; Tahuna Intermediate A, 2; Dunedin North Intermediate B, 3. Year 8: Balmacewen Intermediate A, 1; Kaikorai Valley College A, 2; Balmacewen Intermediate C, 3. Year 9: Otago Boys' High School A, 1; Logan Park High School A, 2; John McGlashan College, 3. Year 10: John McGlashan High School A, 1; Otago Boys' High School B, 2; St Hilda's Collegiate B, 3.
