Beauty of maths embraced by Fife schools competition sponsored by The Courier – our best pictures of the day

By Cheryl Peebles

September 30 2022, 6:00am

Young minds were put to the test in a Fife schools maths competition sponsored by The Courier. Pictures by Steven Brown/DC Thomson.

Young mathematical whizzes were put to the test in a Fife schools maths competition sponsored by The Courier.

And our photographer was there to capture the best moments from the interschools contest, which highlighted the beauty and fun of the subject.

Hosted by Glenrothes High School, the competition saw almost 100 S3 and S4 pupils from 15 secondary schools complete a series of a challenges.

The three top-scoring teams – two from Madras College, St Andrews, and one from Bell Baxter High School, Cupar – will go on to compete at the Scottish Mathematical Council’s Enterprising Maths nationwide final.

You can see how well you might have done by trying our maths quiz based on the final round.

With The Courier shield are Madras College winners Daniel Armstrong, Oison Buckley-Zapf, Lucca Hartmann and Rodrigo Braunecker-Sicila.

‘No stigma to liking maths’

Glenrothes High School maths teacher Catherine Blundell said the event is an opportunity to show that maths can be fun and to bring together young people with a passion for the subject.

She said: “It’s just a really nice day for them to be in amongst other pupils where there’s no stigma attached to the fact that you like doing maths.

“There’s an acceptance in society that it’s ok to say ‘I’m not good a maths’, or ‘I didn’t like maths’, but we should be embracing maths and bringing to the fore these pupils who say ‘you know what, I enjoy maths; I like challenging myself, I like being able to solve these problems and do something different.”

Participating schools were: Auchmuty High School, Balwearie High School, Beath High School, Bell Baxter High School, Dunfermline High School, Glenrothes High School, Inverkeithing High School, Kirkcaldy High School, Levenmouth Academy, Lochgelly High School, Madras College, Queen Anne High School, St Andrew’s High School, St Leonards School and Viewforth High School.