International Maths Challenge

 As educators, our instinct is to help. When a student asks, "Is this right?" or "Are we there yet?", we tend to give a direct answer. But are we robbing them of a learning opportunity? A recent article by the International Maths Challenge explores this through a fascinating anecdote about a bike ride and a simple question: "Are we at the top?" Instead of a simple "Yes" or "No," the author dives into the complexity of language and geometry. Context Matters: Does "top" mean the highest point of a bridge? The lid of a jar? The loudest volume ("top of your lungs")? ** Geometric Inquiry:** How do we define the "top" of a curved structure like a bridge versus a flat object? The article argues that the role of a teacher isn't to be an encyclopedia of answers, but to be a generator of curiosity. By "questioning the answer," we force students to define their terms, check their assumptions, and explo...

 We often think of professional gamers as having lightning-fast reflexes and mechanical god-tier skills. While that is true, there is a hidden player on every championship team: The Data Analyst. Behind every "outplay" in League of Legends , there is often a mathematical calculation. Gold Efficiency: Is it mathematically better to buy a Long Sword or save for a B.F. Sword ? Cooldown Reduction: How much ability haste is needed to cast your ultimate twice in a team fight? Vision Scores: What is the statistical probability of the enemy jungler being in the bot lane right now? The difference between a Gold-tier player and a Challenger often comes down to understanding these numbers. A recent feature by the International Maths Challenge breaks down exactly how top-tier teams use data to draft the perfect champions and optimize their builds. If you want to climb the ranked ladder, you might need to put down the mouse and pick up a calculator. Read the full breakdown of Math in...

In the world of mathematics education, there is often a heavy focus on getting the "right answer." While accuracy is important, true mathematical fluency comes from understanding relationships, patterns, and structures. This is where the concept of "Same But Different" becomes a powerful tool for teachers and parents alike. The "Same But Different" routine presents students with images, numbers, or shapes that share common properties but differ in others. It moves beyond simple calculation and forces students to justify their reasoning. For example, comparing a square and a rectangle: they are the "same" because they both have four right angles, but "different" because one has equal sides while the other does not. This approach does three critical things for a student's development: Builds Vocabulary: Students must use precise mathematical language to describe what they see. Encourages Debate: There is rarely just one way to see ...

  What’s seven times nine? Quick, you’ve got six seconds to answer. This June, over 600,000 children in England in year four, aged eight and nine, will be expected to answer questions like this. They will be sitting the multiplication tables check (MTC), a statutory assessment of their multiplication fact recall. The MTC was introduced in 2022 with the aim of driving up standards in mathematics. It’s an online test that children take on a tablet or computer, made up of 25 questions with six seconds per question. Being able to quickly recall multiplication facts is valuable. Not having to think about seven times nine, just knowing that it’s 63, frees up a child’s mental thinking space. This means they can focus on different aspects of the mathematics they are doing, such as completing multi-step problems or using reasoning to solve context-based problems. Being able to quickly recall multiplication facts is also the foundation for more advanced mathematics topics that children will ...

  As the artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing industries explode, trained STEM professionals are in high demand. Mathematics is foundational to these fields. But mathematics is missing an important ingredient: people who are female or gender-diverse. In New South Wales, for example, only one-third of high school graduates who complete mathematics at the highest level are female or gender-diverse. And when students choose university courses in December, a large proportion of these highly qualified people will step away from mathematics and STEM. Australia cannot stay competitive by only accessing half of its young talent. By leaving mathematics early, young women and gender-diverse people limit their own career opportunities. Worse, the new technologies resulting from the current revolutions may not serve broader society well, if women and gender-diverse people are not involved in their development. But at the University of Sydney over the past five years we have run a...

      Math teachers have to accommodate high school students’ different approaches to problem-solving. RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images Among high school students and adults, girls and women are much more likely to use traditional, step-by-step algorithms to solve basic math problems – such as lining up numbers to add, starting with the ones place, and “carrying over” a number when needed. Boys and men are more likely to use alternative shortcuts, such as rounding both numbers, adding the rounded figures, and then adjusting to remove the rounding. But those who use traditional methods on basic problems are less likely to solve more complex math problems correctly. These are the main findings of two studies our research team published in November 2025. This new evidence may help explain an apparent contradiction in the existing research – girls do better at math in school, but boys do better on high-stakes math tests and are more lik...