Macleans Mathex Teams Year 9 and 10 Auckland Champions
Posted on September 12, 2016
The Macleans Mathex Teams had a historic night, with a win in the Year 9 competition and a first and second placing at the Year 10 level.
The Annual Auckland Mathex competition features 800 of the sharpest Year 9 and 10 mathematical minds in Auckland from 60 secondary schools, competing against the clock in a fun and fast paced competition. Teams of 4 are given just 30 minutes to answer 20 questions and each question must either be answered correctly or passed before they get the next question. Teams earn 5 points for each question answered correctly, for a maximum of 100 points.
In the Year 9 competition, the Macleans A Team, consisting of, Darsh Chaudhari (Batten House), Sanjit Ramesh Chandran (Hillary), Terry Shen (Te Kanawa) and Yunge Yu (Hillary) obtained an early lead and went on to blitz the entire field finishing in a lightning quick time of 17 minutes 30 seconds, more than 5 minutes ahead of the other place getters of ACG and Rangitoto College. The Macleans B Team also had a commendable performance, placing 6th and finishing in a time of 27 minutes and 25 seconds.
At the Year 10 level, competition between the leading schools was tight until the 50 point mark, where the two Macleans teams took an outright lead as other schools got stuck on difficult questions. A fierce competition emerged between the Macleans A and B teams with little separating them, but the Macleans B team of, Grace Baylis (Upham), Kevin Hou (Upham), Kevin Hu (Te Kanawa) and Michael Wang (Upham) took a narrow lead into the final question and won the competition in a time of 19 minutes and 12 seconds. The Macleans A team featuring, Kevin Guan (Upham), Nicholas Yao (Upham), Thomas Ye (Upham) and William Han (Upham) finished in second place 90 seconds later, with other schools still 20 points behind.
The Mathex programme at Macleans is led by senior students and past competitors, Zachary Wong (Batten), Sunny Wang (Hillary), Ben Zhang (Mansfield), Max Yang (Te Kanawa), Owen Wang (Kupe), Song Kang (Kupe) and Yang Fan Yun (Snell) and supported by the manager, Mrs Carlson. These students, who are past Mathex competitors, are responsible for selecting and coaching the teams and play a pivotal role in ensuring the teams are prepared for the competition.
