Videos on 6x6x6 and 7x7x7 V-cubes

These 2 videos were created by Quek Yu Han from NUS High.

QtPS Gathering Photos

Crystal Balls

Guess what's the above? The tiny balls are in their original state, and they become the large, clear and beautiful crystal balls after being placed in water for 3-5 hrs. Well, it is commonly called 4D Crystal Soil, its chemical components are Potassium Hydroxide/Acrylic Acid/Polyacrylamide/Others. It is used in indoor plants for decorative purposes. It's made from water absorbent polymer which can absorb up to 200 times of its weight in water. It can store and hold water and nutrition, which is steadily released as the plants needs are required. 4D Crystal-Soil can prevent insects and bacteria problem which usually occurs in ordinary soil. It's non-toxic, biodegradable and safe. Cool, right?

Unmoving Images

Look at the images (double-click to get a bigger picture, for a better effect). Both are not moving, but appears to be moving!

Today I am at home. Tomorrow I have Physics and History papers. Sat is Music Grade 3 Theory paper. Monday is the last paper, Trigonometry II. I would consider my exam over on Sat, as Trigo is very easy, there is no need to revise.

QtPS Gathering on 4 November

Attention all Queenstown Primary School friends,

Maam is organising a movie marathon in the Queens Condo function room on 4 November (Tue). The movies screened will be a combination of latest English/Chinese movies and cartoon movies. As usual, bring food (halal). You can also bring along your pillows, mattresses and blankets.

Time: from 4 pm onwards (till 10 pm latest).

IMO National Training Team Briefing

Today, I attended the IMO National Team Training briefing at NUS Blk S16 #05 from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm. The actual training will start next Saturday (25 Oct) from 9.30am to 1pm, and it will be held every Saturday until late April 09 or early May 09. There are four lecturers/teachers in charge of the training - Mr Teo, Mr David Chia, Dr Wong Yan Loi (NUS) and Dr Tay Tiong Seng (NUS).

We got to know some maths pros of other levels from other schools. Most of them are JC1 students and I am the youngest. We played some Maths games like "24", where they would give you 4 numbers and you must make 24 by using only addition, subtraction, multiplication, division or brackets. For example, if the numbers 5, 5, 9, 9 were given, you can make 24 by 5x5-9/9. Try with numbers 1, 5, 5, 5. The answer is below.

After the briefing, I still had to go back to NUS High for a Number Theory (my Maths Elective) test. After that, I went home for my lunch (my favourite chicken rice!) at about 3.30pm.

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Answer: (5-1/5)x5=24

National Training Team for IMO 2009

I have been selected to be in the National Training Team for International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) 2009. Besides myself, a few of my NUS High seniors - Ang Yan Sheng, Ryan Chan, Sung Hyun Lim and Gabriel Wong, were also selected. I heard that the training will be starting soon. Hopefully there will be no training during the Nov/Dec holidays, as my family is going on a trip to China (Nanning/Guilin) in Dec.

My exams will be from 24 Oct to 3 Nov. Ughh .. my sister from RGS has taken her last paper today. I think among the secondary/high schools, NUS High has the latest exam period which means that we are mugging when others are enjoying their holidays :-(

American's Got Talent Magic Trick

I enjoy watching American's Got Talent. Below is a really cool magic trick!

Innovative Programme (IP) Project

Every NUS High Year 1 student has to do this IP project. It is about inventing an innovative product to help the elderly. My team members are Cyrus, Aik Wee, Miao Jing and me. The groups are chosen based on our birthdays i.e. the 4 youngest are in one group and the next 4 in another. Our product is a dustpan. We meet every Wednesday afternoon during the AXIS period (2 hours) to discuss the project. So far, we have made good progress. Our dustpan has a mirror to help elderly look under furniture without bending down, since the old people usually have back problem. It also has a torchlight which can be switched on to light up the area under the furniture, so that the tiny dirt or debris can be seen and swept away.

I think I have a good team as we are usually quite productive and we do not quarrel among ourselves, unlike another team. Cyrus is also a good leader as he is responsible and helps the team to brainstorm ideas.

My Old Photos

Australian Mathematics Competition

The Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC) results were released. I got a Prize award and Prudence award. My sister also won a Prize award. Yay! The prize presentation ceremony will be held at Novotel Clarke Quay on 23 Oct. There will be some cash money and also a scrumptious buffet. Yum yum ...

I checked the Australian Mathematics Trust website. Zhang Aidi from RGS and Ryan Kor from RI got full marks (medal winners). Cool!

V-Cube

A V-Cube 6 is the 6x6x6 version of the Rubik's cube, while a V-Cube 7 is the 7x7x7 version. Unlike the flat-sided V-Cube 6, the V-Cube 7 is slightly rounded. Due to its design, the corner pieces will drop out if it's a true cube shape hence it is impossible to construct a 7x7 with uniform pieces.

The V-Cube 7 consists of 218 unique miniature cubes ("cubies") on the surface. There are 8 corner cubelets, 60 edge cubelets and 150 center cubelets (6 fixed, 144 movable).

My NUS High senior, Nicholas Ho, has a 6x6x6 and a 7x7x7. I think he bought a package comprising a 5x5x5, a 6x6x6 and a 7x7x7 for a few hundred dollars from the Internet. I hope to have a 6x6x6 or a 7x7x7 :-)

I heard there is a V-Cube 11, but i have never seen it before.

Rubik's Cube Competition

I made 3 new friends at the Rubik's Cube Competition organised by Toysrus yesterday. They were all professional cube solvers apparently much faster than me. They were Nicholas Ho, Yuan Chen Yang (both my seniors from NUS High, M08306 and M08302 respectively) and Hai Xiang from Commonwealth Sec School. All of them were friendly and gave me some tips on how to smoothen the cube and solve it faster. Chen Yang lent me his 3x3 cube which was smoother than mine, Nicholas also lent me an even smoother one during 3x3 round 1.

During the 2x2 challenge, I broke my personal record with a 14 sec, obviously not good enough to get into the top 3. For the 3x3 round 1, I again broke my record with a 27.91 sec, where my average time during practice was about 40 sec! However, there were people who could solve it in less than 20 secs. For the 4x4, I broke my own record again in 2 min 22 secs (usually I took about 3 mins). Nicholas was top in the 4x4 with 1 min 38 sec. I think he had won himself $300.

After the 3x3 round 2 which I took 34 sec, I went home knowing that I could not win one of the top 3 prizes. Anway, I have not done some of my holidays homework. TEEHEE!

Rubik's Cube Qualifying Round and NJRC 2008

This afternoon at 3.30 pm I took part in the Rubik's Cube 3x3 qualifying round at Suntec Entertainment Centre. The organiser announced that there were about 300 participants and only the first 100 fastest players would qualify for the final tomorrow. Each group of 8 was called on stage to solve the 3x3. I was in group 2. I was quite nervous and made several mistakes in turning the cube. My timing - an outrageous 56 sec! (usually I took 30 - 40+ sec to solve 3x3).

My sister, Lim Min, and her friends - my senior Nicky from NUS High, Derek from HCI and Jeremey from RV, took part in the NJRC (National Junior Robotics Competition) 2008 held at Science Centre today. They have worked for the past few weeks on their Saving Earth robot, and last night they camped at my house till this morning 6 am, before rushing to Science Centre for the competition. Guess what they won? 2nd in the Open Category! They were very disappointed, as they were 1st in the last two years. They missed the chance to represent Singapore in the World Robot Olympiad (WRO2008) to be held at Japan!

At about 8.45 pm I received a call from Toysrus that I have qualified for the 3x3 finals tomorrow. So I have 3 competitions tomorrow - 9.30 am for 2x2, 11.30 am for 3x3 finals, and 1.30 pm for 4x4.

SMO Prize Presentation and Jigsaw Puzzle Competition

There are 2 events today. In the morning, I went for the SMO prize presentation ceremony which was held at NUS High Auditorium. For SMO(Junior) Team category, NUS High won 2nd, tied with Hwa Chong. We were awarded with $500, however, we couldn't keep the money as it's for the school.

For the SMO(Junior) Individual category, Ang Yan Sheng got 3rd whereas I was 6th. We were awarded with $200 cheque and $100 cheque, respectively. Last year, I got 8th and the prize money was also $100, but in real cash.

After the SMO prize presentation, we had buffet lunch at the Concourse, before proceeding to the Civil Service Club for a jigsaw puzzle competition. It was a 1000-pc puzzle, which was extremely difficult - more than half of the picture was pink and 1/5 was all white (you can see the puzzle from the photo below). There were about 20+ teams competing. After 3 hrs, we did not manage to finish the puzzle, leaving 203 pieces uncompleted. Yet we came in Champion!! The 2nd team had 267 pieces undone, and the 3rd team 293 pieces not fixed. We won a $500 cash cheque. My mother's friend received $125 while the 3 of us kept the remaining $375. After deducting the registration fee of $23 each, each of us earned $102 each. So, today I earned $202 in total, haha!

Soda Green

This is not a drink, it is a pop group 苏打绿. Their song, 小情歌, is one of my mother's favourite songs. She said it was 百听不厌, which means she won't get tired of it even after listening to it for over a hundred times.



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This Sat is the prize presentation ceremony for SMO. I will be meeting Wei Liang, who is 12th in the SMO (Junior). In the afternoon, I am taking part in a jigsaw puzzle competition held at Civil Service Club. Next week, I am taking part in the Rubik's Cube competition (I signed up for 2x2, 3x3 and 4x4 events) organised by Toysrus Singapore.

Olympics 2008

This year's olympics is held at Beijing, China, obviously you all know. Singapore won 1 silver for table tennis team and nothing for table tennis single and for swimming. This year, the swimming pool at the Water Cube is specially designed to be over one metre deeper than usual, so the waves dissipate and reduce turbulence to the bottom. Also, special swimsuit (LZR Racer) worn by the swimmers is extraordinarily light and smooth, designed for better oxygen flow to the muscles and holds the body like a shark's skin. No wonder so many swimming world records were broken, 8 of them by Michael Phelps. Unless future venues are designed with more high-tech methods such as different chemical compounds in the water to further reduce water turbulence and resistance, maybe there won't be anymore swimming world records in the next 20 years! Usain Bolt, aka Insane Bolt, broke the world record for running 100m and 200m. All of these you should know already, so I am just talking crap.

Just some funny videos for you to enjoy.

Future Creations in Year 3000

SMO Prelim Results Out

The results list is only preliminary, showing top 10 for individual with no ranking. Both Ang Yan Sheng and I are in the top 10 at the SMO Junior National level. I didn't get top but 2nd in NUSH, duh. Anyway, Ang Yan Sheng is better than me but then he is in Year 2. At least my score is better than last year, so I am happy. The final results will only be out during the prize presentation ceremony on 30 Aug. But I think RI's top two scorers have higher marks than Ang Yan Sheng, so NUSH's best individual result for SMO Junior can only be 3rd or more.

Actually, I am quite surprised that Jonathan did not get into top 30. Maybe his handwriting is illegible and the marker could not read it!

NUSH team got 2nd (Ang Yan Sheng, Jonathan and I in the team), tied with HCI, and apparently, RI got first, 5 times in a row, which means they can keep the Challenge Trophy. NUSH also got team 2nd for SMO senior, and the first is RI, duh. NUSH got team 4th for SMO Open. 1st is HCI, 2nd is probably RJC, 3rd is RI, still quite duh.

I am also very happy that I managed to get Gold award (very lucky!) for SMO Open.

Next year, NUSH must aim for team 1st in the SMO Junior!!!

Dragon Illusion

This is a wonderful optical illusion. This little dragon is made out of paper - you simply cut it out and stick it together, and stand it on a table. When you move around, the dragon's head seems to follow you around the room. View the video, to see what I mean.

How does it work? If we move around when viewing a solid object, our brain knows how the object we are looking at should behave. However the dragon gives us the wrong clues, because we mis-interpret what its shape is. We assume that the nose of the dragon is pointing out towards us, but in fact the dragon's head is concave.
You can download a copy of the actual dragon and try this illusion for yourself if you wish.