In an impressive show of intellect and mathematical prowess, student teams from Glenmuir High and Immaculate Conception competed for the winning trophy in the finals of the inaugural University of Technology, Jamaica Mathematics Quiz Competition last Thursday.
At the end of regulation time, the teams were tied on 13 points. It was the tie-breaker question posed by quiz master Kevin Williams — “When asked how old she was, Beth replied; in two years time I will be twice as old as I was five years ago. How old is she?” — that gave the Glenmuir High team the edge. Immaculate answered incorrectly and lost two points.
Glenmuir finished with a final score of 13, while Immaculate had 11. Campion College finished third.
The winning school received a trophy and cash prize of $150,000 with second place receiving a trophy and cash prize of $100,000.
Held under the theme, “Making Mathematics a Way of Life”, the mathematics quiz competition is part of the university’s thrust to promote and develop the awareness of mathematics as a tool for problem solving across disciplines and to generate a cultural change and love for the subject in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean.
The competition, which began with the preliminary round on November 18, is open to high schools by invitation. The quiz covers the curricula of Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination mathematics level 1. Each participating school is allowed to register a maximum of three teams comprising no more than three students each.
Competition rounds consist of multiple choice and structured questions.