Bad News and Good News

Bad news is ... the exams are around the corner.
28 & 29 Oct (Wed & Thu) - Reading Day
30 Oct (Fri) - Chinese P1 & P2, English P1
2 Nov (Mon) - Physics, English P2
3 Nov (Tue) - Chemistry, Maths - Polar Coordinates
4 Nov (Wed) - Maths - Calculus I

There is no exam for VB .Net Programming (elective) and Kitchen Chemistry (enrichment). For Programming, though there is no exam, this semester we have had 6 assignments, 2 written tests, 2 practical tests and 1 project. It is still my favourite! I will develop more games after my exams.

Good news is ... most of my modules this semester are non-study subjects so I do not have to memorise many facts :-)

Start of National Team Training

Training for the National Team starts today. I saw many familiar faces, from my school, from RI, RGS, HCI and ACS(I). There were 28 of us, the instructors were the usual ones like Prof Tay and Prof Wong from NUS Maths Dept and Mr Teo, but with two new x-men (a term to describe Singapore IMO alumni). After introducing ourselves to each other, we played some maths (so predictable right) games – solving questions in teams. I think my team did the worst amongst all the 4 teams, but at least our team was the funniest. It’s only 3 hours and the first day, so nothing much happened.

The actual weekly training will start next Saturday, from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm, at NUS Maths Dept. I think it will end sometime next May, just before the National Team Selection Test. The next 51th IMO will be held at Kazakhstan (somewhere in Russia), in the city of Astana, from 2 to 15 July 2010.

Australian Math Competition Prize Presentation

The Australian Mathematics Trust Annual Awards Presentation was held at the Novotel Clarke Quay Hotel this evening. There were 9 of us who won the Peter O'Halloran Award for Excellence for getting perfect score in the Australian Mathematics Competition, 7 for Junior and 2 for Intermediate.

My sister won a Prize Award for the Australian Mathematics Competition (Intermediate) and Perfect Score for Australian Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad (AIMO).

The food was not palatable, only plain donuts, samosas, chicken nuggets, cake, coke, plain water, coffee and tea were served. Unlike last year, cash cheque was not given for Prize awards, which means I did not earn any money this round. Instead, I got a gold medal and a book voucher, and my sister got 2 book vouchers. These are neither Popular nor Borders book vouchers, but we have to pick one Maths olympiad book from a list and fax it to the University of Canberra in Australia.

Favourite Cartoon Shows

My sisters and I like to watch cartoons, especially funny ones and those with lots of fighting. Below are our top 10 favourite cartoon shows, starting from rank 10 to rank 1.

Rank 10. Inuyasha.

Rank 9. Bleach

Rank 8. Fairly Odd Parents

Rank 7. Skip Beat
Rank 6. D-Grayman

Rank 5. Phineas & Ferb

Rank 4. Spongebob Squarepants

Rank 3. Naruto

Rank 2. MAR

Finally, our Rank 1 Top Favourite, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!!!

Four Maths Problems A Week!

The following is a good website for students who love to do interesting/challenging Math problems.
http://www.colstate.edu/mathcontest/index.php

It is hosted by Columbus State University’s College of Education. There are 4 categories: Problem of the Week, Algebra in Action, Middle School Madness and Elementary Brain Teaser.

Questions in the last 2 categories are usually more elementary. I will usually try to solve the problems in the first 2 categories, while my younger sister will attempt questions in the last 2 categories. If you know the answers, you can submit them. Your name will be published immediately (usually within a day) after your answer has been reviewed and it is correct.

There is a problem a week (every Monday) for each category. I chanced upon this website only recently and I like it! You can also try the past problems, or problems in Challenge Mode (where <50% students got the answers correct).

Have fun!

Another PSLE Math Qn

Another question posted on my blog:
Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken. Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim. Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates. The ratio of Jim’s sweets to chocolates became 1:7 and the ratio of Ken’s sweets to chocolates became 1:4. How many sweets did Ken buy?

My mother asked my younger sister to solve this question, and her solution (it is correct) is as follows:

PSLE questions

A PSLE student posted the following 2 questions on my cbox. I thought it is easier to explain it here than on the cbox. Here it is:

Geom question:

Given: ABCD is a square, EG=EF=EH. Find angle GFH.

Since ABCD is a square, AB=BC=CD=DA

As EF=BC=DA and AB=GH, hence EG=EH=AB=GH.

Therefore, triangle EGH is equilateral since EG=GH=EH.

angle GEH=60°

angle GEF=60/2=30°

Triangle EGF is isosceles. Hence, angle FGE= angle GFE = (180-30)/2 = 75°

angle GFE = angle HFE = 75°

Therefore angle GFH= 75X2=150°

Balloon question:

Given: String of 2 big balloons is 90cm String of 5 small balloons is is 1.2m If both strings are of the same length, there would be 105 more small balloons than the big balloons. How many balloons are there altogether?

105 small balloons would have a length of (105/5) X 1.2 = 25.2m = 2520cm

1 big balloon has a length of 90/2=45cm

1 small balloon has a length of 1.2m/5= 0.24m= 24cm

Difference in length of big and small balloon = 45-24= 21 cm

Number of big balloons = 2520/21 = 120

Number of small balloons = 120+105 = 225

Total number of balloons = 120+225 = 345

Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration

Yesterday was the Mid-Autumn Festival (also known as Mooncake Festival), and our Queens condo had a mini celebration for the residents, with games and food (mooncakes, tea, pomelo, crackers etc.). There were Pomelo Peeling Competition, National Constume Competition and Lantern Making Competition. After the various competitions, there were one Indian dance by mother & daughter pair, and four Japanese dance performances by young Japanese boys and girls, as there are many Japanese families (>100?) staying in our Condo.

My sister won the first prize in the Lantern Making Competition, and her team (comprising my two sisters and two other friends) also won the 2nd prize in the Pomelo Peeling Competition. They received some Popular book vouchers (worth $40 in total).