A total of 139 students from 13 schools, one tuition center and mix teams from various schools around the Klang Valley and Kuala Lumpur took part in this year’s FERMAT Mathematics Qualifying Workshop in Wisma HELP on 15 February. The participating schools in this year’s workshop were from: HELP International School, Chong Hwa Independent High School, Kuen Cheng High School, Pin Hwa High School, Sri Kuala Lumpur International School, SMK Kepong, SMK Bukit Tinggi Klang, SMK ACS Methodist Klang, SMK St Mary, SMK Sri Aman, Stella Maris Secondary School, Tamil Forum Malaysia- TFM CLC, MRSM Taiping, Prodidik Jaya Tuition Centre and a selection of mix school teams.
During the first Mathematics workshop, students were asked a series of mathematical quizzes and questions that were posed to them. Then, all them sat for Fermat Mathematics Qualifying Test to qualified for the Fermat International Contest. In the second workshop the students were challenged critically and creatively as well. The Fermat workshop, organized by the Department of American and Canadian Education, HELP University challenges students by prepping them to solve mathematical problems and applying problem solving approaches.
At the end of the Workshop, the team, “5 Eagles:” from Chong Hwa Independent High School, won the overall highest score in the Fermat Mathematics Qualifying test, therefore winning the Challenge trophy, during the award ceremony. Three of the students from the Chong Hwa Independent High School won cash prizes, they are Lam Jiu Fong (RM500), Woon Jian Xiang (RM300) and Tan Chee Xiang (RM200). The top 50 qualified students were invited to participate in the FERMAT International Contest, organized by University of Waterloo on 26th February. Winners of the contest will be announced at the end of March 2020.
The Fermat Mathematics Qualifying Workshop were organized by HELP University’s ACE (American Canadian Education) Department. The department offers programmes in Bioscience, Business, Computer Science, Engineering, Mass Communication, Psychology and Actuarial Science with transfers to top universities in America and Canada. For more info, visit www.university.help.edu.my or call 03-2716 2000 to speak to one of our programme counsellors. The Fermat International Contest is an opportunity for students to have fun and to develop their mathematical problem solving ability. The contest is held in February and challenges students with 25 multiple-choice questions in 60 minutes. Early questions require only concepts found in the curriculum taught in local high schools. The last few questions are designed to test ingenuity and insight. Rather than testing content, most of the contest problems test logical thinking and mathematical problem solving.