Students excel at Simon Marais Mathematics Competition

For the second year running the University of Melbourne was the highest placed Australian university at the prestigious Simon Marais Mathematics Competition for undergraduate students in the Asia-Pacific.

The University placed 3rd overall out of 21 universities, and Ilia Kucherov placed 5th out of 355 students in the individual competition. For these achievements, Ilia will receive $1,000 and the University $10,000.

The Simon Marais Mathematics Competition is an annual competition that aims to encourage creative mathematical problem-solving among undergraduate students, identify talented students across the Asia-Pacific region, forge links between academics in the region, and promote healthy competition among students as well as between universities.

It is named after Dr Simon Marais, a physicist and asset manager with a life-long passionate interest in mathematics and mathematical problem solving, who passed away in 2015.

First prize in the university competition went to the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the top individual was Yan Sheng Ang from the National University of Singapore.