Mathematics

Mr Geoffrey Jamieson Head of Mathematics

The year 2014 has largely been a year of consolidation for most of our courses. We have settled issues we had with text books and have used the same text as for 2013. This has helped staff because of the reduction in preparation time required to be familiar with the content. The time gained has been directed into the preparation of useful resources. The current Years 11 and 12 courses have been in place since 2009. Over the years since their introduction we have built up a substantial supply of past tests and exams that students find particularly useful for revision purposes.

In 2015 we will go through the introduction of a new set of Year 11 courses yet again. In general, the Mathematics staff are of the opinion the new courses are an improvement over the current courses. However, we will once again go back to having no previous tests and exams for revision purposes.

Mathematics Week again offered our students the opportunity to get involved with some practical activities. One activity required students to predict the value of the next card turned over from a pack of cards using their knowledge of probability. Another activity concerned the production of an anamorphic image, which is a deformed image that appears in its true shape when viewed in some unconventional way. These often appear on sporting grounds and look three dimensional when viewed on a television.

This year we again organised a visit from World of Maths. Our Year 7 students were able to experience a wide variety of hands-on problem solving activities to challenge and entertain them.

During this year we have offered our students a wide variety of extra challenges and activities. These include: Have Sum Fun, Have Sum Fun Online, Australian Mathematics Competition, Australian Mathematics Challenge, Australian Maths Olympiad, WA Junior Olympiad, Australian Intermediate Olympiad and Australasian Problem Solving Mathematical Olympics.

Australian Mathematics Competition

This year we had over 500 students compete from Year 7 to Year 12. The results show our students continue to be very competitive at a national level and demonstrates the high standards we expect from our students is being maintained. Students solve Mathematical problems during a Visit from The World of Maths

Overall Trinity students achieved 11 high distinctions, 85 distinctions and 202 credits.

Students who achieved high distinctions are:

Year 7 Joshua Pham (7.4)

Year 8 William Tan (8.7), Jordan Tyson (8.7), Thomas Throssell (8.4)

Year 10 Samuel Carbone (10.1), Thomas Cavanagh (10.4), Thomas Rowney (10.5)

Year 11 Callum Dewsbury (11.5), Yiming Dong (11.4), Darcy Port (11.5)

Year 12 Shaun Zhu (12.3)

Western Australian Junior Mathematics Olympiad

Credit Leon Formato (9.1), Samuel D’Souza (9.1)

Distinction Samuel Throssell (9.3)

Mathematics Challenge for Young Australians

This competition is designed for the very able students in Year 7 through to Year 10. Students are required to answer six quite challenging questions over three weeks.

Trinity students achieved 10 high distinctions, 15 distinctions and 30 credits.

The high distinctions have been achieved by:

Year 9 Leon Formato (9.1), Daniel MacMillian (9.2), Samuel Throssell (9.3)

Year 10 Joseph Bonavita (10.7) (perfect score), Samuel Carbone (10.1) (perfect score), Callum Brady (10.1), Farruh Mavlonov (10.7), Thomas Cavanagh (10.4), Joshua Naylor (10.3), Trong Nguyen (10.3)

Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad

Samuel Carbone (10.1) gained a credit certificate for his effort with the daunting task of a four hour examination with just ten questions.

Congratulations to Yiming Dong (11.4) for being chosen to attend the National Mathematics Summer School held at the Australian National University in Canberra in January 2015.

During this year Mrs Leanne Wilson and Mr Joseph Tamigi (’99) resigned from their teaching positions at Trinity College. Both of these two staff members have made outstanding contributions in their many years at Trinity within the Mathematics Department and the broader general community. Mr Ross Jacobs retires at the end of this year and we wish him all the best for the years ahead. Mr Jacobs is a very knowledgeable person with a vast experience in teaching mathematics at the highest level and more recently, religious education. Mrs Lynn Jacobs has worked within our department for three terms, mostly as a long service leave replacement. She is an excellent educator and her ability to start with a new set of classes three times this year has been amazing.

Mr Geoffrey Jamieson Head of Mathematics

Students create an anamorphic image during Mathematics Week