Hong Kong Joint School Mathematics Society jsms.hk@gmail.com| www.hkjsms.org HKJSMS Newsletter 2nd Issue January 2012
From the Editor Dear readers, entering 2012 and the Year of Dragon, the HKJSMS newsletter is taking a great leap forward. Thanks to the president for supporting my ideas of introducing new “corners” in this publication and to teacher advisors and former committee members for their contributions and guidance. Please enjoy reading. Yeung Hon Wah
Academic Corner – P1 Experienced Contestants Corner – P4 Member Schools Corner – P5 Event Focus Corner – P6 Mathematical and Problem Corner – P7
Academic Corner Interview with Dr. K Y Li (李健賢), Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and teacher advisor to HKJSMS By Yeung Hon Wah, HW: Some students are wondering whether they should take mathematics as a major in university. Can you give us some idea about the career path of mathematics majors and what mathematics can do for us? KY:
Mathematics is all about deductive reasoning and applicability. Mathematics is everywhere in our daily lives. For example, we need to calculate how much we need to pay for goods we buy. In weather forecast, the analysts working in observatory need to attain certain level of mathematical skills in order to understand what will happen from the data generated by their very sophisticated instruments and tools. As simple as making a phone call, it actually involves signaling which calls for numerous calculations and digitized codes in transmission. For electronic communication, error correction is very important to ensure accuracy. All these are parts of our daily lives and in this IT era, many technical decisions require a good sense of mathematics. When I was in secondary school, I loved mathematics simply because I was good at it. However, I did not really know many practical applications. Some students may be good in one area, say algebra, but not strong in others. So it is too early to say whether a high-school student, who scores high in mathematics, is capable of coping with different streams of mathematics in university. Having said that, I think the practicality and application side of mathematics would inspire students to pursue further. The more he or she explores, the more passionate he or she will be. In considering mathematics as a major at the university level, a student should focus more on his or her
personal interest and strength. For careers, it depends on what the students can select. HW: I understand that the Department of Mathematics of the HKUST offers several tracks of mathematics courses. Could you tell us more about them? KY: There are two tracks of pure mathematics. One track provides regular scope which many other universities offer. The advanced track is the other, which is for students who plan to pursue postgraduate degrees to become professional mathematicians. There is also an applied mathematics track that includes statistics and financial. Students taking this track usually are pursuing careers in the finance related fields. We also have a computer science track. Those who like programming and IT related jobs may select this track. There is also the mathematics and economics