Two Yarm School pupils have achieved merits in the prestigious UK Mathematics Trust (UKMT) Intermediate Olympiad competitions.
Abhinav Ramisetty, 16, and Keya Shah, 15, were among just 25 per cent of participants (approximately 450) who were awarded merits in the two-hour competition, which aims to challenge mathematicians with complicated problems.
The pair were invited to take the Olympiad papers having placed in around the top 1800 nationally in the initial Intermediate competition. The Olympiads have separate papers for different age groups with Keya participating in the Cayley examination and Abhinav participating in the Maclaurin examination.
Abhinav has previously placed in the top 25 per cent of the UKMT Senior Kangaroo round after achieving a high placing in the Senior Mathematical Challenge.
The UK Mathematics Trust was founded in 1996 and its charitable aim is to advance the education of young people in mathematics.
It does this by working with hundreds of volunteers across the UK to organise competitions promoting problem solving and teamwork and other mathematical enrichment activities.
Abhinav said: “I am very proud that I was one of few people who achieved a merit in the UKMT Maclaurin competition. I have really enjoyed taking part in these competitions and the grades I have received are testament to my hard work and that of the teachers at Yarm who supported me.”
Keya said: “The Cayley Olympiad was a lot of fun, despite there being some very difficult questions. Taking part in competitions like these is important to me as it enables me to challenge myself and it makes maths more enjoyable as a whole.”
Mr Michael Pointon, Teacher of Mathematics and Chemistry, said: “Keya and Abhinav have done incredibly well to achieve such grades in the UKMT Olympiad competitions, and they should be very proud of themselves.
“Encouraging pupils to participate in competitions which showcase their talents in subjects they excel in is very important to us and competitions like this are a great way to boost pupils’ confidence in their knowledge.”
An example of a previous Cayley paper question:
The digits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, A and B are all different and nonzero. Each of the two six-digit integers ‘A12345’ and ‘12345A’ is divisible by B. Find all possible pairs of values of A and B.