Have maths, will travel

18 May 2017: Australia’s winning teams in the International Mathematical Modeling Challenge (IM2C) show that jet lag is no barrier.

Coordinated in Australia by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), IM2C is a mathematical modelling competition that invites teams of up to four students from secondary schools to visualise, understand and apply mathematics in order to develop an original mathematical model that solves a common problem.

Australian teams entered for IM2C 2017 used their research, mathematical and creative abilities to develop a mathematical model to address a problem that required students to decide where to hold a three-day international meeting of participants travelling from different parts of the world in order to minimise the jet lag and maximise the productivity of participants at the meeting.

Australia’s best two solutions and reports in a pool of eight national finalists were from Melbourne’s John Monash Science School, awarded an Outstanding Achievement, the highest award category, and Perth Modern School, which received a Meritorious Award, the second highest award category.

The John Monash Science School solution and report by Year 12 team members Dylan Sanusi-Goh, Alex Socha, YiJie Neo and Paromita Mitchell with team advisor Luke Bohni and Perth Modern School solution and report by Year 11 team members Indira Senthil Ajeetha, Yuqing (Sunny) Lu, Mehul Aggarwal and Kartikiya Bisht with team advisor Glen McClelland will now be judged against about 50 team solutions and reports from around the world in the IM2C 2017 international round.

The other six finalists in the IM2C 2017 national round were:

• Lyneham High School, Canberra: Enling Liao, Jessica Hill, Emi Callaway and Shannon Lanza (all Year 9) with team advisor Rajesh Prasad
• Ballarat Grammar School: Thomas Burnett, Annabella Lewis, Amy Zuell and Luke Williams (all Year 10) with team advisor Natalie Draper
• Box Hill High School, Melbourne: Miles Koumouris and Xander Britz (both Year 11), and Bernhard Andersson and Michael Zhao (both Year 10) – recipients of an Honourable Mention – with team advisor Eugene Roizman
• Box Hill High School, Melbourne: William Wang, Calvin Fairhurst, Lewis Douketis and Tse Hao Ong (all Year 10) with team advisor Eugene Roizman
• John Monash Science School, Melbourne: Vladimir Mikho, Bors Deletic, Alex Wilce and Bo Kok (all Year 11) with team advisor Luke Bohni
• Mentone Girls’ Grammar School, Melbourne: Amanda Hu, Kelly Jiang, Nikki Phan and Jade Rayner (all Year 9) with team advisor Maria Spaziani.

Ross Turner, project director for IM2C at ACER, commended the eight national finalists, and the mathematical modelling work by all Australian teams that submitted entries to the national phase of the competition.

“With 82 Australian teams entered for IM2C 2017, we have seen a huge increase in interest in mathematical modelling this year,” Mr Turner said. “Programs like IM2C are leading the way in helping students to see how mathematics can be applied to solve real-world problems.

“What is especially pleasing is that many schools have seen that IM2C is an opportunity to engage students from different year levels in a challenging mathematical activity.”

Judging in the IM2C 2017 international round will be completed in July. For more information, visit www.immchallenge.org.au

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Media enquiries: Steve Holden, 03 9277 5582 or 0419 340 058 communications@acer.edu.au