Purple Comet Maths Competition Success

On 26 April, a mix of secondary students participated in the Purple Comet International Mathematics competition. There was a junior competition for Y7-Y9, and a senior competition for Y10 and above. The students formed teams each consisting of 1-6 people. The junior teams had one hour to solve 20 questions, and the senior teams had one and a half hours to solve 30 questions and submit it online. During this intense hour not only did the students learn and improve on creative mathematical problem solving but also bonded with each other as a team. The competing teams all did a very good job.

A sample problem from the competition – if you like it, join the math team for the next competition:
A 2 meter long bookshelf is filled end-to-end with 46 books. Some of the books are 3 centimeters thick while all the others are 5 centimeters thick. Find the number of books on the shelf that are 3 centimeters thick.