Resources

Introduction

This page contains a number of resources to aid students and teachers throughout the challenge. We have an article that provides guidance to teachers on supervising mathematics research; students may also find it useful. Data referenced in the research problem booklets can be downloaded here, as well as exemplar projects from previous years.

Conducting mathematics research

Mathematics research (like all research) can be fun, interesting and you can learn a lot from it. Sometimes starting the research can seem daunting, especially if it is your first time. To help teachers and students get started with research, we prepared an article containing guidance on breaking down a problem, thinking in different ways, and communicating mathematics.

It’s important to recognise that making progress (sometimes even just understanding the problem can take a lot of work!) is the goal, not “finishing” a project. Research is rarely “finished”: try to keep in mind that presenting progress is just as much of an accomplishment.

Read the article

2025 research problem data

Below is a list of the data samples and data sets referenced in the current research problem booklets. You may download the data associated with your chosen topic.

J–08 Groceries

groceries_sample_small.csv (CSV 5.1 KB)

groceries_sample_large.csv (CSV 16.7 KB)

I–05 Bobbi's Book Club

bobbi_book_club_(2015-19).csv (CSV 22.9 KB)

bobbi_book_club_(2009-19).csv (CSV 49.1 KB)

I–09 Coin Sequence

coin_flips.csv (CSV 608 Bytes)

S–04 Clinical trial

clinical_trial.txt (TXT 1.3 KB)

Exemplar projects

The highest quality projects each year are recognised with awards and cash prizes. The entries that received awards and prizes in the 2024 program are listed below. The Finalist* projects and the problem booklets from that year are available for download. Students and teachers may use them to get a sense for the quality  of outstanding projects.

Download 2024 Finalist Projects (ZIP 39.6 MB)

Senior finalists

  • Perth Modern School (WA) – R. Oliveiro, J. Yip, C. Yu
  • Nossal High School (VIC) – R. Yao
  • Carlingford High School (NSW) – A. Mukherjee, E. Diu, P. Mehta
  • Haileybury College (VIC) – C. Antonmeryl, D. Premaratne, E. Zhu

Intermediate finalists

  • St Andrew's Cathedral School (NSW) – L. Shi
  • Scotch College (VIC) – F. Fu, W. Xuan
  • Adelaide Botanic High School (SA) – M. Ding
  • Darwin Middle School (NT) – R. Li
  • Scotch College (VIC) – R. Zhuang, J. Yin, P. Liu

Junior finalists

  • Strathcona Baptist Girls' Grammar (VIC) – M. Healey
  • Yackandandah Primary School (VIC) – B. Hardisty, A. Glanville
  • Bellevue Hill Public School (NSW) – B. Newman-Davie, E. Pilsky
  • Riverwalk Primary School (VIC) – S. Bhattacharya
  • Aberfeldie Primary School & Lowther Hall Anglican Grammar School (VIC) - S. Flowerdew, A. Nguyen

Outstanding projects (reports and posters)

  • Armidale City Public School (NSW) – J. Matthews, S. Hoque
  • Northcross Intermediate School (NZ) – YH Chen, YX Chen
  • Lysterfield Primary School (VIC) – A. Ivanoff
  • Good Shepherd Catholic School (WA) – P. Le, L. Scanlon, T. Nguyen
  • Bendigo South East 7-10 Secondary College (VIC) – J. Trinidad, L. Vu, H. Fletcher
  • Glenunga International High School (SA) – V. Nguyen, T. Modi, K. Roy
  • St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls (WA) – A. Binder, A. Wates
  • Darwin Middle School (NT) – N. Tripura
  • St Columba's College (VIC) – J. Manalil
  • Immanuel Lutheran College (QLD) – O. Cameron
  • The Rockhampton Grammar School (QLD) – N. Dhamsania, Z. Lekha, E. Dennis
  • Darwin High School (NT) – T. Ullas, S. Soora
  • Newington College (NSW) – E. Jia, A. Xu

*Finalists are selected from report-based project entries.