By Shona Mckenzie | Posted: Wednesday September 6, 2023
Five times a year, Year 7 & 8 students from around New Zealand compete in the Otago Problem Solving Competition.
60 students from Casebrook currently participate in Otago Problem Solving. This extra curricular competition requires students to independently solve a range of mathematics problems.
During each session, students are given five different problems that need to be solved within the 30 minute time frame. The questions vary, however, generally they include brain teasers. This year the competition began in April and will continue to take place each month.
The program has been running for 30 years with over one million students around New Zealand having already participated. It is organised by John Curran and John Shanks, retired members of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Otago, with help from Leanne Kirk, also a member of the Mathematics Department.
The students with the highest scores at the end are invited to participate in the final challenge. We wish our mathematicians the best of luck.