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Competition March 2009

Many thanks to all the students who entered the competition in February. We had over 250 entries, alas there can be only one winner.

The winner for February 2009 was,

                     

Paul is a first year student from Scoil Chonglais, Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow. He correctly stated that Triangle 10 will contain 30 dots. 

If you would like to be in with a chance of winning some fantastic prizes, why not enter our competition for March... see below for more details.

Project Maths Student Competition.

Each month Project Maths will launch a new student competition. There are some fantastic prizes up for grabs, such as portable DVD players, Digital Cameras, i-tunes music vouchers and much more.

For the moment, the competition is only open to First and Fifth year students involved in the project maths pilot program.

The competition will be based around the "Mathematician of the Month".

The mathematician for March 2009 is,

 

Sophie Germain

  

Sophie Germain was born in France (1776-1831). She worked on Prime numbers, the theory of elasticity in metals and on Fermat’s last Theorem. She was determined to study mathematics despite opposition from her parents. Women at this time were forbidden to attend University. So she pretended to be a man called Monsieur Le Blanc in order to gain entry to Paris’s prestigious École Polytechnique. She contacted the great Carl Gauss, and they worked together on number theory. She also pretended to him in her letters that she was a man. Her true identity was revealed only when Napoleon’s army occupied Germany and she asked the General to ensure Gauss’s safety.

Click here to view video

        

 

To read about Sophie Garmin, click here

  

 

                       To enter this month’s competition, first read about Germain primes:
 

 

Germain Primes:

Example 1

Example 2
  • Take any prime number 
  • Double it 
  • Then add 1
  • If both numbers are prime, then the
    original number is called a
    “Germain Prime”

Prime Number = 13
Double it = 26
Add 1 = 27

This is NOT a Germain
Prime, because BOTH
numbers are NOT Prime
i.e. Although 13 is a prime
number, 27 is NOT.
 

So we can conclude that 13
is NOT a Germain Prime

Prime Number = 23
Double it = 46
Add 1 = 47

This IS a Germain Prime,
because BOTH numbers
ARE primes. i.e. 23 IS a
a prime number and 47
IS a prime number
 

We can conclude that 23
IS a Germain Prime

 

 

Now simply answer the question below:

15 is the product of which two Germain Primes?

                             To view printable version of this competition, click here

 

Once you have found the answer, e mail it to [email protected]

Don't forget to include the following information,

1. Your answer, and a brief explanation of how you found it;

2. Your full name;

3. The name of your school;

4. Your age, year and class;

5. The name of your maths teacher.

 

The competition closes at 5.00 p.m. on Tuesday the 31st of March 2009. No entries will be accepted after this time.

Note: By entering this competition, you agree to accept the competition terms and conditions as laid down by the Project Maths Development Team.

To view a copy of the terms and conditions, click here

The Project Maths competition is sponsored by Intel Education (Ireland)

 

 

More about Sophie Germain

  
One day a visitor to Paris, a Mr. Ernst Chladni, demonstrated that curious patterns were produced on small glass plates covered with sand when a violin bow was drawn across them. The sand moved about and formed various different patterns, based on the "notes" played.This caused great excitement among the Parisian mathematicians and Physicists. Napoleon authorized an extraordinary prize for the best mathematical explanation of the phenomenon, and a contest announcement was issued.

Sophie Germain's entry was the only one. While it contained mathematical flaws and was rejected, her approach was correct. To see how "sand moves" when exposed to different frequencies, play the video. Remember to TURN ON THE SOUND for your computer.
 
Sound Patterns