Challenge, fun and teamwork all part of equation in Dragon Maths competition

By Aidan Lai and Ryan Ng

As the average student journeys through the education system, they are expected to attain an adequate level of mathematical understanding. Rarely, however, will you find those who actually enjoy what they’re learning, and even rarer are those eager to engage in the subject competitively.

That is, unless you were one of those gutsy enough to participate in one of RCHK’s latest mathematical fighting rings — one that challenged not only arithmetic skill, but also patience and dedication to finishing a monumental task. And what a task it was. 

Stretching over thirty questions, this competition featured a head-spinning series of problems. Designed not for novices, but veterans wishing to challenge their problem-solving skills, it sought to bring student mathematicians to new heights of mathematical knowledge. 

Attracting over 300 participants nationally from Years 8 and 9,  the competition took place over several hours on the 7th of March, and consisted of mathematics problems from geometry to arithmetic. We are, of course, talking about none other than the Dragon Maths competition. 

The competition was hosted online due to the pandemic, like most other events in recent years.

Surprisingly, some students were able to put up with the dreadful Zoom landscape. One Dragon Maths competitor was more than happy to know that Dragon Maths was being held online “due to not needing to run back and forth to [deliver answers].”

Two preparation sessions were held prior to the competition, featuring mock tests with questions similar to those in official Dragon Maths competitions. Teams were to work together to solve these questions, and here, students first encountered the problem of online communication. To solve this problem, teams were encouraged to utilise alternative mediums of communication such as external voice chats. The preparations went smoothly for most, but some thought that they were not an accurate depiction of what was to come later.

“The preparation rounds were really enjoyable,” one Year 9 competitor said. “We had to work together to solve problems from diverse areas of mathematics, which allowed us to contribute in the areas we excelled at. Zoom communication was different, but I personally didn’t mind. We ended up doing quite well in the preparation rounds, which left us confident in scoring well in the actual round, however none of us fully realised what was to come. “

And unexpected it was. During the actual competition, students would find their assumptions nullified when the organisers presented not the expected ten questions, but triple that amount with only double the time available, throwing off all but the most prepared.

The competition started out successfully for most people. “The first few questions were trivially easy,” said Athan Wong, a Year 9 competitor. “As the competition went on, however, questions gradually became more and more difficult; the last question was so confusing that it took one of us two hours to work it out afterwards. Overall, however, I found solving complicated maths problems with my team members to be really enjoyable.”

Some, however, had a completely different experience. Owen Li, a competitor from Team GOP, says: “At the beginning of the [competition], we all felt energised to take on whatever questions we had to face. However, as we faced more and more questions, with each one getting harder, it put our brain and [stamina] to the test. By the time we hit the last question, we all felt tired and even close to exhaustion.”

One Year 9 participant had a more positive view of the event. “I was pretty relaxed the whole time,” he said. “Some questions were pieces of cake, while others left us completely dumbfounded, and I just knew that there was no point in wracking my brain to try solve those seemingly impossible questions.”

A few people even claimed foul play was highly possible. “It’s hard to want to be honest when you know others aren’t going to feel the same,” said a Year 8 competitor. “At multiple occasions in the competition, I was really tempted to go and Google a question or reach for my calculator, however I was lucky that my conscience saved me every time. If I had done either of those things, my team would have been instantly disqualified from the competition, and that would’ve been the worst.”

Dragon Maths was a competition with, admittedly, some pretty glaring issues. From unexpected challenges to cheating, it is fair to say that the competition faced numerous hiccups along the way — it seems more could have been done to stop these problems. However, because it was forced online like many other events, the organisers could not be blamed for this plight. And for the time and resources they had, they did an excellent job in making sure everyone had a good time. If there’s one thing to be taken away from this, it is that even maths can be enjoyable if everyone is having fun.