SEAMC

On 28th February, Mr Sillitoe and Miss Smith took 6 of our finest mathematicians from years 9 and 10 (Tina Kim, David Kim, Hikaru Hotta, In Hae Hong, Ellena Joo and Steve Ko) to Bangkok to represent BIS at the annual South East Asian Mathematics Competition (SEAMC). The event was attended by 46 schools from across South East Asia and held predominantly at Harrow International School. Here is their account the 3 days of competition:

Thursday was a busy day for all of us. We arrived at the airport half asleep, eyes drooping, and our brains shut down. Miss Smith and Mr. Sillitoe on the other hand, were wide-awake, energetically talking to all of us about the plan for the rest of the day.

Even after a short needed sleep on the plane, we still weren’t ready for the busy activities ahead of us. Well, at least we thought we weren’t. Too many fun things to miss out! After a mini shopping spree, we headed back to our hotel to be assigned our buddy groups. Everyone was nervous about the strangers they were going to have to work with for the rest of the day, but it turned out fine. I was assigned with a group of boys, aka maths geniuses who all had such passion for maths it was inspiring. The day ended with everyone swapping emails and phone numbers to stay in touch overnight with the friends we made in just a few hours! - Ellena Joo, Year 9

Friday commenced with our first major event: the Individual round 1. Friday was realistically our first day of the actual competition. The individual round consisted of 25 hardest questions which were organized in order of competency. Following this was a student lecture by Craig Barton, a Secondary Maths Advanced Skills Teacher from the UK who improvised that maths is an enjoyable topic through adrressing the mathematics behind dating. Next, we sat the first of our three team rounds in which every team was given a question to solve within a time limit. These questions were extremely demanding and required deep mathematical knowledge. Finally, the day ended with a trip to Ayuttaya, the ancient capital city of Thailand. However, this was no ordinary sightseeing tour. Every school group was given a series of maths questions to solve during the tour which was closely associated with the geometric figures of the watt (temple). It induced the use of maths and stressed that maths is everywhere around us; maths never stops. - Hikaru Hotta, Year 10

On Saturday, it was already the last day of the competition. The day began with another frightening but stimulating individual round, followed by pass-back and energiser rounds. We put all of our remaining maths brain power for better memories of SEAMC 2013. The afternoon was spent with our buddies from all around South East Asia finishing our last maths event using QR codes, and there was the gala dinner waiting for us with lots of great food and events in the evening.  Some inspiring speeches were made by remarkable guest speakers; Craig Barton, the mathster of dating; and Ron Lancaster, the mathgician. We gained more knowledge and enthusiasm about math and beyond it. The competition officially ended with Mr. Mechai’s talk about the wonderful improvements in Thailand he has contributed to, which everyone found the most entertaining above all. Although SEAMC 2013 is over, it will remain as one of the best memories in our school life. 
Tina Kim, Year 10

Here's a sample question from one of the individual rounds. Can you solve it?

 

  

Overall, BIS managed to finish 25th and 42nd out of 92 teams; an excellent result considering the tough competition! Next year sees the event arrive in HCMC for the first time ever with BIS taking on the role of co-hosts. We hope you get practising for the event that promises to be a milestone in the school's mathematical history!

Ben Sillitoe

Mathematics Teacher

Maths Club & Competition Coordinator