The Junior Pi Memorising Contest for the new S2 and S3 pupils is now complete. The top 16 performers in this fun memory test are:

Stefanie Gordon (prize+certificate); Katherine Stark (cert); Gary Hutchison (cert); Zoey Johnston (cert); Natalie Tate (cert); Philip Woollins (cert); Christine Haggart (cert); Clare Dallas-Ross (cert); Cheryl McDill (cert); Lewis Graham; Jamie Woods; Jo Shepherd; Bryn Davies; Gabrielle Downie; Karen Cairns; Jonathan Cameron.

We would like to encourage Stefanie, who memorized 122 places, to try for the long standing school record of 160 set by Dave Stewart in 1999.

 

Any school student in Scotland or the rest of the UK wishing to attempt to beat the Scottish or UK Schools Pi Memorising Record should read The Rules. You may need the Digits of Pi Page. Notification of a new record should be sent by E-mail to: madrascollege.maths@fife.gov.uk . You will find details of the current records and links to previous records on our RECORDS PAGE.

Other Links:

The World Records

Listen to Pi

G. Uday Shankar of Nizamabad - The Pi Boy

Memory Master

How to Memorize Pi to 1000 places

From The St Andrews Citizen, Friday June 18, 2004

Visit The Pi Joke

At Madras College we are holding a Pi Memorising Contest for the new S2 and S3 pupils. The top 15 performers in this fun memory test will be invited to attend an official World Record Event (Details will be announced soon)

Any pupil in S2 or S3 who wishes to take part: get memorising now using the Digits of Pi Page to help you. You can get plenty advice from the Memory Master and also from: How to Memorize Pi to 1000 places but don't worry, 50 places will be pretty good! Our own school record stands at 160 places.

 

Any school student in Scotland or the rest of the UK wishing to attempt to beat the Scottish or UK Schools Pi Memorising Record should read The Rules. Notification of a new record should be sent by E-mail to: madrascollege.maths@fife.gov.uk . You will find details of the current records and links to previous records on our RECORDS PAGE.

Other Links:

The World Records

Listen to Pi

G. Uday Shankar of Nizamabad - The Pi Boy

Memory Master

Friday 31st January 2003 was a day to remember for Colm MacQueen an S4 student at Largs Academy. During a special event held at lunchtime Colm beat the current UK record for memorising the decimal digits of Pi. He took 20 minutes to complete Pi to an astonishing 628 places with no errors. This was 18 places more than the previous record which was established in July 2001 by Leo Davidson from Highgate School in London. Congratulations to Colm on bringing the UK record back to Scotland!

You will find details of this current record and links to previous records on our RECORDS PAGE.

 

Any school student in Scotland or the rest of the UK wishing to attempt to beat the Scottish or UK Schools Pi Memorising Record should read The Rules. Start memorising now using the Digits of Pi Page to help you. Notification of a new record should be sent by E-mail to: madrascollege.maths@fife.gov.uk .

Other Links:

The World Records

Listen to Pi

How to Memorize Pi to 1000 places

G. Uday Shankar of Nizamabad - The Pi Boy

Memory Master

Try to plot this Beastly Picture designed by Laura Miller and Seonaid Robertson both from Class 1J. Well done girls! The same class has been busy solving Pentomino Puzzles. Here are pictures from Rona, Laura and Seonaid

Links of the Week

PI DAY was March 14th ( 3/14 ). We have some links that will help you appreciate why a PI DAY exists!

• The History of Pi ... from the Maths Dept at St Andrews University
• Pi and the Fibonacci Numbers ... from Dr Ron Knott at Surrey University
• The Pi-Search Page ... search the first 100 million digits of Pi for your telephone number, birth date etc (thanks to Dave Anderson)
• Gaze in wonder at 50000 digits of Pi (thanks to Roy Williams Clickery)
• Pi Day Carols... do you believe this?!
• Just how many digits are known? Visit Kanada Laboratory to find out.
• Read A Passion for Pi an article by Ivars Peterson
• Brush up your french at LUnivers de Pi
• Brian Taylor's fascinating History and Philosophy of Pi is packed with useless facts and information about Pi
• In 1897 the Indiana Assembly voted unanimously to enact a Bill that decreed Pi to have a value of 3.2. Read the astonishing story on the Indiana Local Government Information Page
• Finally read a few Madras Mnemonics for Pi created by our own students

• Play the rythmns of Mathematics on the Harmonic Series Rhythm Player. Extraordinary!
• A french Optical Illusions Site
• Teachers should visit Mr Narain's Golden Ratio Pages for some ready made activities for your class. An excellent resource.

• Let your Credit students sharpen their Equation balancing skills on the amazing Solving Equations with Balance Strategy from WisWeb (but only after taking the class through some of the Teacher's Page using your interactive white board or projection system)

We present our updated CHRISTMAS LINKS collection. Enjoy the season with some Mathematical fun!!

Try drawing the same snowflake twice with SNOWFLAKER. Is it impossible? How to FOLD A SNOWFLAKE correctly.

Browse through more of our Snowflake Links

I am lying

Congratulations to Robert Goudie (S6) for solving Postage. His suberb solution has been published in this months Magazine

Try the November Problems, they are suitable for S1-S3 and S4-S6. Also remember to try the unsolved Tough Nuts.

"The least integer not describable in fewer than eleven words" is itself a description of ten words. So the least integer not describable in fewer than eleven words is describable in fewer than eleven words because the quoted expression above is such a description and has only ten words.

An arrow cannot move in the place in which it is not. Nor can it move in the place in which it is. But a flying arrow is always at the place at which it is. Therefore it is always at rest.

Higher: Paper1 Answers and Paper2 answers.

Credit Level: Paper1 Answers and Paper2 Answers.

General Level: Paper1 Answers and Paper2 Answers.

Foundation Level: Paper1 Answers and Paper2 Answers.

Congratulations to Sana Eljamel, Jenny Dillon, Chris Kinsley and Roisin Connolly, all in S3, for their solutions to Hidden Squares, Repetitiously, Fitted, Circumnavigation, Rati-o, Sept03, Sept03 Sept03 Sept03, Fac-Finding and Semi-detached, You are stars! Also well done to Jonathan Hart, Michael Hay and Philip Woolins, all in S2, for their solution to Sept03, In the senior section, well done Robert Goudie (S6) for solving Small Steps. It is encouraging to see so many of our young mathematicians involved in the struggle to solve the very challenging Nrich problems.

Try the October Problems, they are suitable for S1-S3 and S4-S6. Also remember to try the unsolved Tough Nuts.

• A feast of excellent articles at the AMS What's New in Mathematics Archive
• Antonio Gutierrez's Geometry from the Land of the Incas is a visual delight. Explore the rich mathematical tapestry of this beautiful Site.
• Read about the astonishing Padovan Numbers. They are to triangles what Fibonacci numbers are to squares.
• Make these Penrose Tiles and try to tile the plane.

Is this the $1 million solution?

A giant step towards proving the TWIN PRIME CONJECTURE has been taken.

Or has it?

The race is on between our S3 students who have achieved 50 in Base 7, and our S5 students who have succeeded in reaching 46 in Base 6. With only one week to go before the holidays can they do better than 152 and break last year's record? Watch out for Elliott Husband - he's working away at Base 8 in secret!!

 

Visit The Digits-of-the-Year Challenge page to keep up to date with the latest news. You can join the fun if you are not at Madras College by sending solutions by E-mail. Check out the E-mail Solutions instructions. Also read about the History of the Challenge

E-mail your solutions to madrascollege.maths@fife.gov.uk

Well done Charles Oliver (S4) for In a Box, Sarah Johnson (S2) and Iain Sutherland (S2) for Only Connect and Sarah Dunn (S5) for Loopy and W Mates. All these students got a mention for their solutions in this months on-line magazine.

Try the July Problems, they are suitable for S1-S3 and S4-S6. Also remember to try the unsolved Tough Nuts.

Congratulation to Sheila Norrie (S3) and Kirsty Stewart (S3) for their excellent solutions to Putting your cards on the table. Also to Sarah Dunn (S4) for her wonderful solution to the Teams problem

Try the June Problems, they are suitable for S1-S3 and S4-S6. Also remember to try the unsolved Tough Nuts.

We have a vacancy for a Teacher of Mathematics at Madras College, St.Andrews, Fife. The successful applicant would be enthusiastic and energetic showing a good rapport with children. The department has recently undertaken some exciting new developments in the curricular and ICT areas and the post holder would be expected to contribute in both these areas. The school has more than 1800 students and consequently the post will offer a wide-ranging and rewarding challenge. The post is from 18th August 2003. If you are interested then please phone the school on 01334-412500 and talk to Dr Waterston (PT Mathematics) or alternatively E-mail us at madrascollege.maths@fife.gov.uk

Congratulation to Jing Liu (S3) for his work on The Root of the Problem

Try the May Problems, they are suitable for S1-S3 and S4-S6. Also remember to try the unsolved Tough Nuts.

Bernard's Bag each month contains excellent investigation starting points suitable for S1 and S2 students of varying ability. Try them with your classes and send any discoveries to Nrich.

Higher: Paper1 Answers and Paper2 answers.

Credit Level: Paper1 Answers and Paper2 Answers.

General Level: Paper1 Answers and Paper2 Answers.

Foundation Level: Paper1 & Paper2

• Hamming Codes
• A Knotty Pentagram
• Golden Spiral Animation
• Draw Plants mathematically. Lessons from Professor Anne Burns.
• See the wonderful pictures in the 1996 Fractal Calendar
• Do "Imaginary Numbers" really exist? (This link is especially for members of class 3YP, Madras College)
• Read about Self-Surrounding Tiles

Try the April Problems, they are suitable for S1-S3 and S4-S6. Also remember to try the unsolved Tough Nuts.

Bernard's Bag each month contains excellent investigation starting points suitable for S1 and S2 students of varying ability. Try them with your classes and send any discoveries to Nrich.

Congratulations to Calum Normand, Thomas Davies, Sheila Norrie and Elaine Paton, all S3 students, for their excellent work in solving and extending Semi-Square.

Try the February Problems, they are suitable for S1-S3 and S4-S6. Also remember to try the unsolved Tough Nuts.

Bernard's Bag each month contains excellent investigation starting points suitable for S1 and S2 students of varying ability. Try them with your classes and send any discoveries to Nrich.

On Thursday December 19^th 2002 Brian Morris, a S6 student at Taylor High School, New Stevenson broke the Scottish Schools Pi Memorising Record. Brian managed to write out the digits of Pi to 314 decimal places with no errors. This beat the previous record by an astonishing 64 digits. We congratulate Brian for this extraordinary memory feat.

You will find details of this current record and links to previous records on our RECORDS PAGE.

 

Any school student in Scotland or the rest of the UK wishing to attempt to beat the Scottish or UK Schools Pi Memorising Record should read The Rules. Start memorising now using the Digits of Pi Page to help you. Notification of a new record should be sent by E-mail to: madrascollege.maths@fife.gov.uk .

Other Links:

The World Records

Listen to Pi

How to Memorize Pi to 1000 places

G. Uday Shankar of Nizamabad - The Pi Boy

Memory Master

Congratulations to Thomas Davies, Hannah McKenzie, Elliot Husband, Lizzie Farnham and Hannah Bradley all in S3. Their work on Tilting Triangles has been published in this month's Journal. Also congratulations to Alison Colvin, Sheila Norrie and Shona Leenhouts for an honourable mention for their work on the same problem.

Try the January Problems, they are suitable for S1-S3 and S4-S6. Also remember to try the unsolved Tough Nuts.

Bernard's Bag each month contains excellent investigation starting points suitable for S1 and S2 students of varying ability. Try them with your classes and send any discoveries to Nrich.

On Tuesday September 17th 2002 Colm MacQueen, a S4 student at Largs Academy broke the Scottish Schools Pi Memorising Record. Colm wrote out 250 decimal places of Pi. This beat the previous record by 26 places. Congratulations to Colm on this stunning memory feat. Is he going for the UK Record?

You will find details of this current record and links to previous records on our RECORDS PAGE.

 

Any school student in the UK wishing to attempt to beat the UK Schools Pi Memorising Record should read The Rules. Start memorising now using the Digits of Pi Page to help you. Notification of a new record should be sent by E-mail to: madrascollege.maths@fife.gov.uk .

 

Listen to Pi

In this month's Nrich On-line Magazine a special article ARCLETS features the work of our S3 students Alison Colvin, Gordon Duncan, Sarah Gibbs, Kathryn Husband, Shona Leenhouts and Sheila Norrie. Well done!

Mention too for Jack Shepherd, Kirsty Stewart, Gill Smart and Aimee Reilly, Natasha Purves, Hamish Hepburn, Shona Leenhouts, Sheila Norrie and Alison Colvin, all S3 students, for their work on Number rules - OK?

The November problems this month become the December Problems and so have an extended deadline of 21st December. They are suitable for S1-S3 and S4-S6. Also remember to try the unsolved Tough Nuts.

Bernard's Bag each month contains excellent investigation starting points suitable for S1 and S2 students of varying ability. Try them with your classes and send any discoveries to Nrich.

We present our updated CHRISTMAS LINKS collection. Enjoy the season with some Mathematical fun!!

Try drawing the same snowflake twice with SNOWFLAKER. Is it impossible? How to FOLD A SNOWFLAKE correctly.

Browse through more of our Snowflake Links

Danielle Henderson, one of our S4 students, has created a Christmas Maze. Can you find the path from Santa to his Grotto?

The 2003 Digits-of-the-Year Challenge is well under way. Our students have reached 32 in Base Ten. In Base Seven 27 has been reached. Our S5 students are convinced that Base Six holds the secret of breaking the all time record of 152 that was established last year.

 

Visit The Digits-of-the-Year Challenge page to keep up to date with the latest news. You can join the fun if you are not at Madras College by sending solutions by E-mail. Check out the E-mail Solutions instructions. Also read about the History of the Challenge

E-mail your solutions to madrascollege.maths@fife.gov.uk

Our S5 students have beaten the all time record!! They have now worked out solutions for 1 up to 152 using 13134_six for 2002. The previous best was achieved 7 years ago for the year 1995. Congratulations to all the contributors for the many ingenious solutions that they have dreamt up. But the challenge continues ... how far will they get?

all classes (Base 10)	All the solutions up to 10
S5 classes (Base 6)	All the solutions up to 152
S6 classes (Base 8)	All the solutions up to 60

Visit The Digits-of-the-Year Challenge pages to see the amazing tricks that our students are using. You could also join the fun by sending solutions by E-mail. Check out the E-mail Solutions instructions.

E-mail your solutions to madrascollege.maths@fife.gov.uk

.

Congratulations to six of our S3 students: Sheila Norrie, Shona Leenhouts, Alison Colvin, Sarah Gibbs, Kathryn Husband and Gordon Duncan They have produced excellent solutions to the Arclets problem from September and these will be featured in detail in next month's Nrich on-line magazine. Also well done Dorothy Winn, S6, for solutions to the first two parts of Cubic Spin.

New sets of problems are now available suitable for S1-S3 and S4-S6. They have a deadline of 21st October for sending solutions to Nrich. Also remember to try the unsolved Tough Nuts.

Bernard's Bag each month contains excellent investigation starting points suitable for S1 and S2 students of varying ability. Try them with your classes and send any discoveries to Nrich.

You might like to try the September sets of problems for S1-S3 and S4-S6. They have a deadline of 22nd Sept for sending solutions to Nrich. Or try the unsolved Tough Nuts.

Bernard's Bag each month contains excellent investigation starting points suitable for S1 and S2 students of varying ability. Try them with your classes and send any discoveries to Nrich.

Maths in The News

Visit the news area on our WebSite: Maths in the News. Recent reports from around the world about all things mathematical. For instance read about how a simple mathematical formula has conquered the mysteries of a water droplet.

• Images of Mathematicians on Postage Stamps. This Site was created by Jeff Miller, a mathematics teacher at Gulf High School in New Port Richey, Florida and contains some fascinating stamp images.
• The Game of Life invented by mathematician John Conway is an example of a cellular automaton. Read the original 1970 Scientific American Article that introduced Life to the world. A simpler Life Applet for exploring the delights of the Life world. There is a controversial new book by Stephen Wolfram which explores the possibility that the Universe works as a gigantic cellular automaton. Read The Man who Cracked the Code to Everything to find out more.

On Friday June 14th 2002 David Binnie, a S3 student at Largs Academy broke the Scottish Schools Pi Memorising Record. David was able to achieve an astonishing 224 decimal places, 14 more than the previous record.. The event was witnessed by teachers Mr Wilson and Miss House and also by David's whole class. Congratulations to David on this great feat of memory.

You will find details of this current record and links to previous records on our RECORDS PAGE.

 

Any school student in the UK wishing to attempt to beat the UK Schools Pi Memorising Record should read The Rules. Start memorising now using the Digits of Pi Page to help you. Notification of a new record should be sent by E-mail to: madrascollege.maths@fife.gov.uk .

Several Madras College students appear in the July Interact Magazine. Congratulations to Shiela Norrie (S3) for the publication of her solution to Are You Kidding and to Robert Goudie (S6) for his solution to Look before you Leap. Also to Dorothy Winn (S6) for her honourable mention for the same problem.

You might like to try the July sets of problems for S1-S3 and S4-S6. They have a deadline of 21st July for sending solutions to Nrich. Or try the unsolved Tough Nuts.

Bernard's Bag each month contains excellent investigation starting points suitable for S1 and S2 students of varying ability. Try them with your classes and send any discoveries to Nrich.

Maths in The News

Visit the news area on our WebSite: Maths in the News. Recent reports from around the world about all things mathematical. Read about the mathematical formula that was developed at Cambridge University to determine the best time for sacking a Football Manager! Also there are reports about an alleged proof of The Poincare Conjecture worth $1 million!

Largs Academy have made an impressive effort at beating the Hole-in-One Records. The results have been staggering. The new Scottish Record holders, all from Largs Academy, are:

• Craig McLaughlin (S2) 77 for 9 pentominoes
• Andrew Fyfe (S2) 93 for 10 pentominoes
• Craig McLaughlin (S2) 108 for 11 pentominoes
• Eva Luckhiran (S2) 127 for 12 pentominoes

What's this all about? Visit the Hole-in-One Records Page to find out!

Rumour has it that there will soon be a challenge to the Scottish Schools Pi Memorising Record also from a student at Largs Academy. Watch this space!

Lesley McNamara, a S3 student at Grange Academy, Kilmarnock, has broken the Scottish Schools Pi Memorising Record. On 30th October 2001 Lesley wrote down the decimal digits of Pi correct to 210 places. This historic event was witnessed by Mr Cameron and Mr Taylor of Grange Academy Mathematics Department. She beat the previous record by an astonishing 50 decimal places. Congratulations to Lesley on this amazing feat of memory.

You will find details of this current record and links to previous records on our RECORDS PAGE.

 

Any school student in the UK wishing to attempt to beat the UK Schools Pi Memorising Record should read The Rules. Start memorising now using the Digits of Pi Page to help you. Notification of a new record should be sent by E-mail to: madrascollege.maths@fife.gov.uk .

• Pulchritudinous Primes is a Site that relishes the mysterious nature of the Prime Numbers. There are some stunning visuals to enjoy!
• This month on the Nrich Site (see the box below) is an article Behind the Rules of Go by Charles Matthews discussing the ancient game. Read it then visit the amazing Interactive way to Go and learn this highly challenging game.
• Use the Madras College Results as your starting point for a Statistical Investigation concerning the performance of Scottish Schools last year in the 2001 SQA exams.
• Spatial Reasoning using Cubes and Isometric Drawings from the NCTM Illuminations Site is an interactive delight!