On Saturday the 10th of September 2016 the ASSA Mathematics Team Competition took place. This was a great challenge for all the learners as they had to participate in groups of 10 learners each. A total of 79 teams from 15 regions participated in the annual competition, organised by the South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF).
The aim of this competition is to develop interest in mathematics mainly focusing on talented learners who have been identified through the South African Mathematics Olympiad (SAMO) and other SAMF Olympiad programmes. Each team enters two teams of ten: Junior (grades 8 and 9), Senior (grades 10, 11 and 12) and may also enter B,C,D, teams at each level. The first part of the Competition is a one-hour individual problem paper, consisting of 15 problems in multiple-choice format. After a break for refreshments and a discussion of team strategy, the second part of the Competition takes place. The second paper consists of ten quite difficult problems, but now the teams may work together and must submit just one set of answers.
Other African countries were also invited to participate. This year Swaziland entered 3 teams in the competition. The Siyanqoba Regional Olympiad Training Programme, organised by SAMF and sponsored by the Department of Science & Technology, is a programme which concentrates on developing problem solving skills, unlike in regular school curricula where the focus is more on solving routine-type questions. The emphasis is on the understanding of mathematical concepts rather than pure memorization of formulae. The programme has different training centres across the country and 7 centres participated in the Maths Team Competition namely Rhodes University, Wits University, University of Limpopo, University of Venda, University of Pretoria, University of Kwazulu Natal and Lowveld High School. Wits University are the runners-up for both the junior and senior divisions. The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s junior team and Boland’s senior team came third.
With sponsorship from the Actuarial Society of South Africa and Casio, financial support is available to all participating provinces to provide T-shirts, certificates and refreshments for their teams. Mike McDougall, Chief Executive of the Actuarial Society of South Africa, points out that mathematics, and especially the problem solving skills tested in Olympiad level maths, are critical foundation skills for many professions key to our country’s economic development. “The Actuarial Society is therefore a proud supporter of this competition, which plays an important role in encouraging talented learners to develop and strengthen their maths skills. We would like to acknowledge all the students who made the effort to participate and we congratulate the winners. We look forward to one day welcoming some of them as members of the Actuarial Society.”
The ASSA South African Mathematics Team Competition takes place annually. For more information contact the SAMF office on 012 392 9372 or email info@samf.ac.za
