GNS Math Club Gets Ready For Competition

February 26, 2021

Academics

GNS

The GNS Math Club started in 2020, as a place where Grade 10 math whizzes could practice and refine their skills for the Math Challengers contest. Now, the club has evolved into a place for those who enjoy not just math, but logic puzzles. With over 15 participants from Grade 9 to 12, Math Club meets Tuesdays at lunch in Lower Simpson.

“Starting Math Club was a way to bring fun competitions and opportunities for students to challenge themselves in math. An example was the Math Challengers, where we could challenge ourselves,” said Brian Lim ’22, GNS Math Club founder. “In addition, we could learn new formulas and techniques that could potentially help with future competitions, too. Math has been my strongest subject since I was young. I always loved to challenge myself, and I enjoyed the challenges presented to me.”

Students explore different types of math and puzzles with others who also share the same enthusiasm. There is no pressure to enter into competitions, although there are always contests coming up for those interested. This spring, there will be two competitions. The Math Challengers and the Canadian Team Math Contest, which will be held in early March and early April respectively.

At the Math Challengers contest there will be one team from GNS consisting of five students from Grade 9. Participants will meet after school on Wednesday, March 10. From 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., students will complete three categories of the challenge that target different areas of math proficiency such as speed and accuracy.

The Math Challengers program, or Canadian Math Challengers Society as it is officially known, is intended to challenge students and have school math teams compete against each other. It focuses on the strands of skill-building, problem-solving, creativity, and perseverance.

“Math is more than numbers. It’s more the concepts and words and how you explain things in a very logical way, more than just knowing how to do a calculation,” said Mr. Jason Lee, Math Club Sponsor.

There is always something to look forward to, especially in mathematics. Real-world applications of math include counting and spending money. As Mr. Lee wisely says, “There’s so much more to mathematics than what you see in high school.”