Despite this years’ inter-school mathematics competition being cancelled, the Hans Woyda club and its enthusiastic and highly able Year 8/9 members have enjoyed two sessions this term.

Whilst we generally discuss and solve problems, we also like to go off on tangents; indeed in the first week we found ourselves talking about complex numbers and the Riemann Hypothesis! I am always amazed by the intellectual curiosity, sharpness of mind, intuitive brilliance and camaraderie that I witness, and the beauty of it all is that it keeps me learning too.

A couple of typical problems:

  1. The product of five prime numbers is 1,000. Find the smallest of these numbers.
  2. A cuboid has the same surface area and volume. Suggest possible lengths of each side.

Answers: 1)  2   because it has to be even      2) 6 cm because there are six faces – think!

Mr Leadbetter (Teacher of Maths & Societies Coordinator)