Take a moment to observe the level of concentration these future creative and critical thinkers applied to last week’s Australian Mathematics Competition. Congratulations everyone for the tenacity you showed as you used a range of problem solving skills and lateral thinking for a solid 60 minutes.

I am incredibly proud of you all. 

Stephanie van der Schans

And just in case you are keen to try the odd question yourself…

From the Grade 3 and 4 paper.

“My sister and I are playing a game where she picks two counting numbers and I have to guess them. When I tell her a number, she multiplies my number by her first number and then adds her second number.

When I say 15, she says 50. When I say 2, she says 11.

If I say 6, what should she say?”                     a) 23     b) 27    c) 35    d) 41    e) 61

From the Grade 5 and 6 paper.

“Edith wrote down the whole numbers from 1 to 20 on a piece of paper. How many times did she write the digit 1?”

1. a) 9 b) 10 c) 11     d) 12     e) 13

“The average time for a class of 30 mathematics students to travel to school is 21 minutes. The boys average is 25 minutes and the girls average is 19 minutes. How many boys are in the class?”  

1. a) 10 b) 12    c) 14     d) 15     e) 18