Thornhill
July 10, 2008 11:14 PM
By: Keely Grasser
It’s one thing to be the top of your math class, it’s quite another to be tops in the nation.
Then there’s Gregory Chen who has had that feeling twice this year.
The Glen Shields Public School alumni, who is heading off to Grade 9 at Thornhill Secondary School come September, placed first out of 7,232 participants in this year’s Lagrange test, a Canadian math competition for Grade 8s.
The 14-year-old Thornhill resident also tied for first in the highly competitive Canadian national mathematics meague Grade 8 test, with fellow Thornhill native Michael Chan.
Markham’s Jonathan Lam and Ringo Cheung, along with teammate Devin Lo, also placed first in the national Euler math competition.
The Grade 7 team triumphed over 382 schools across Canada.
All these students are involved with the Spirit of Math program.
“It’s an “after-school school,” said the program’s president Kim Langen, for kids who want to learn more about math than their schools are offering.
Gregory just wrapped up his sixth school year in the program, he said. He joined at age 8.
“My parents just wanted me to have the opportunity to have some enrichment and do different things,” he said.
The program, which students attend for an hour and a half each week during the school year, is run similar to any classroom, Ms Langen said, meaning they have class and write tests and exams.
However, unlike regular schools, which she said tend to focus briefly on many math subjects, the school of math curriculum consists of fewer topics during the year, so students can delve deeper.
Aside from the core curriculum and math drills, students are also given competition level questions to ponder, Ms Langen said.
Many of the questions in the competition seemed familiar to him because of the practice questions, Gregory said.
He used his own logic to untangle the others, he added.
This is the first time he’s done so well in competitions, Gregory said, adding the questions in this year’s competition, although challenging, seemed easier than last year.
“I have learned a lot in the last year,” he said. “So maybe I’ve gotten better.”
Ms Langen called Gregory’s double win “very, uncommon.”
These competitions draw thousands and thousands of kids, she explained.
She added some competitions don’t even allow participants to use calculators.
“The competitions allow students a chance to excel in something they enjoy, Ms Langen added.
“It’s also a place they feel safe to love math and do well in math.”
Kids who are talented at playing hockey move up to the triple A level to compete with equals and receive superior coaching, she said.
“This is the same idea where we give kids a chance to compete at the triple A level,” she said.
Gregory said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll pursue a career in math, but noted that being good at mathematics is always useful.
Here are some sample competition questions. The first is a sample from the Math League’s Grade 8 test and the second is a sample of a Lagrange-level question from Mathematica, the Mathematics Contest Centre.
1. I got immunized on the one millionth second of this calendar year. That happened on:
A) Jan. 11
B) Jan. 12
C) Feb. 1
D) Feb. 2
2. Mathusalem’s two daughters were born after his 25th birthday, but before his 40th. Andrea is four years older than Melissa. Andrea was born when Mathusalem was one year older than a certain prime number (of years) and Melissa was born when he was 1 year younger than another prime number. What was Mathusalem’s age when Andrea was born?
A) 26 years old
B) 32 years old
C) 34 years old
D) 36 years old
E) 38 years old
Answers: 1) B, 2) B