Somerset Tops QAMT Quiz Table

Nine Somerset College students travelled to Griffith University for one of the highlights of the Mathematical calendar - the 2022 QAMT Gold Coast District Year 7 and 8 Maths quiz. Eight qualifying teams from across the southern Gold Coast feasted on a bounty of computations and didactic deductions designed to differentiate. 

The teams comprised of talented Year 7 and 8 Mathematicians and the quiz is structured into five rounds, comprising of both individual and team questions. Round One was Estimation with questions like; Estimate how many service stations there were in Queensland in 2020 (Answer 1450). Round Two, Speed, followed quickly behind with 12 mental arithmetic (no calculator) problems for the team to complete in two-minutes. For example, Sarah buys an apple costing $1.20 and a sushi roll costing $2.30. If there is a 2% fee for paying by card, what is the total cost? (Answer $3.57).

Round Three was Written Problems, with five problems for each team member to solve in 15 minutes. For example; A student had a mean (average) mark of 8 for their six maths exams. If their marks on the first four tests were 10, 5, 7 and 8, what could they have scored on the last two tests? (Answer Any two numbers that add to 18). Round Four was split into Individual questions, for example; What is 80 as a product of primes? (Answer; 2×2×2×2×5). The last round was General Knowledge; Three famous mathematicians were Archimedes, Euclid and Pythagoras. Who was born first? (Answer; Pythagoras 570 BCE, Euclid 300 BCE, Archimedes 287 BCE). 

When all the scores were tallied, the Somerset I team came out on top with 36 points and Somerset II just edged out Hillcrest for second place, finishing on 33 points. The Somerset I team therefore go through to the state finals in Brisbane, where they will proudly represent the southern Gold Coast. The finals take place at the University of Queensland in October and will incorporate a Maths activity event.

Congratulations go to all the team members; Team 1- winner of Round 1 and Round 2, Oscar Credland Ballantyne, Tony Xia, Harry Georgeson. Team 2- Runner - up Round 1 and Round 2, Trishi Shivikumar, Nicole Yuan, Ruhara Mapabandara. Reserves and third place in round 1, Malcom Chan, Roger Hua, Kenshin Tateno. Fourth place in round 1, Team 4, Jack Walker, Dylan Aspinall, Charlotte Kemp.

Griffith University ran the quiz extremely well and must be thanked for the hosting of the event.  My thanks also go to all the parents who attended the evening, as well as Mrs Wright for her leadership in coaching and coordinating the teams.