Second prize for our students in global mathematics competition

University of Melbourne mathematics students have recorded a strong showing in the international Simon Marais Mathematics Competition.

The School of Mathematics and Statistics team was the best ranked team across Australia and were ranked second globally in the University category, for which the School was awarded $15,000. The prize will be used to develop enrichment and outreach activities for students.

The inaugural Simon Marais Mathematics Competition was run on the 7 October, and the marking is now all finished. In total, 459 students from around the Asia-Pacific region competed and, although we don't yet have the final detailed results, the prizes have been announced and students from the School have had great success.

In the individual competition (the prize money for each placing was shared among the number of students who were equally ranked):

• Yong See Foo and Ilia Kucherov shared 5th place ($1000 each)
• Michell Chen shared 8th place ($1000)
• Alan Guo shared 10th place ($200)

As an additional bonus, Yong See and Ilia were the top-placed students in Australia, which rewards them with an extra $750 each.

In the pairs competition:

• Allen Gu and Alex Ritter placed 8th ($1000 each)

The competition is aimed at undergraduate students to encourage their creative mathematical problem-solving as well as promote healthy competition among them and their universities. It is named after South-African born physicist Dr Simon Marais, who maintained a life-long interest in mathematics and problem-solving.