Sixth Form pupils win at International Math Challenge in New York

Competing against 794 teams, made up of more than 3,600 pupils from across the United States and UK, the team was awarded the Technical Computing Prize for the best use of computer programming, along with a $3,000 cheque. The prize money will be split between the team members and paid directly to their universities next year to offset fees.

To reach the final, the team spent 14 consecutive hours writing a paper which used modelling and computational methods to solve real world problems. This year’s problem was about predicting heatwaves and mitigating their impact on power grids. Their final paper, consisting of over 60 pages, was selected as one of the 3 finalist papers after enduring rigorous examination by the professional judges.

Ahead of their win, the team commented: ‘What makes the M3 challenge unique is its emphasis on not just predictions, but also using those predictions to design real solutions. We prioritised this on Challenge weekend, using domain knowledge of physical and social sciences to make our approaches fresh but still anchored in reality. As a result, we not only predicted trends, but found creative solutions and strategies to solve the problems of tomorrow.’

Well done boys!