Competition March 2009
Many thanks to all the students who entered the competition for January. We had over 200 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 February... 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 an i-pod shuffle, DVD players, i-tunes music vouchers and many 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 (1776-1831) |
"It matters little who first arrives at an idea, rather what is significant is how far that idea can go" 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 Germain, click here |
To enter this month’s competition, first read about Germain primes:
Germain Primes: |
Example 1 |
Example 2 |
|
Odd Number = 9 This is NOT a Germain So we can conclude that |
Odd Number = 23 This IS a Germain Prime, We can conclude that 23
|
Now simply answer the question below: |
15 is the product of which two Germain Primes? |
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.
|
