On 20th November, 12 of Modern’s budding mathematicians from Grades 10, 11, IB1 and IB2 took part in the preliminary round of the Infinity 2021 Mathematics Competition organized by Aditya Birla World Academy. In past years, a team of 3 students physically travelled to Mumbai to take part in the competition. However, given the unique circumstances present this year, the competition took place online and necessitated a preliminary round. Over 500 students across India and the international zone engaged in two rounds of intense problem solving, individually and as a team. The online format allowed for a greater cohort of Modern’s students, supervised by Mrs. Shiba Juneja to take part, namely:
- Anya Bindra, Vansh Agarwal and Yash Dave of IB2
- Atharv Mishra, Kushal Sodum and Shreyas Sharma of Grade 11/IB1
- Ananya Sharma, Nimah Shukhoor and Saanvi Aima of Grade 11
- Sachit Singh Juneja, Shrenik Kumar and Paridhi Bhatia of Grade 10
The competition began with the individual round titled “Clash of Mathematicians” conducted using Google Forms, which saw students work to solve 30 questions spanning various fields from number theory to advanced geometry over the span of an hour. The following round added an element of teamwork, as students joined their teammates in separate breakout rooms on Zoom to discuss and solve 10 challenging questions within a 1-hour time period. The nature and difficulty of the questions of the preliminary rounds certainly proved to be a testament to the high standard of the competition.
The competition was opened to Grade 10 students specifically this year, which made their participation particularly commendable as it demonstrated their drive to face challenges head-on, even when dealing with unfamiliar concepts like combinatorics that were part of the syllabus. Prior to the day of the competition, Sidharth Hariharan and Yash Dave had conducted a one-and-a-half-hour problem-solving session to better prepare the juniors for what was surely an intellectually stimulating competition. Though the team did not make it to the finals, it was certainly an enriching and enlightening experience for them. This competition brought together students of like interests and abilities, allowing them to form their own community in which they found challenge, inspiration and encouragement to a far greater degree than they can find in a classroom environment.
Their certificates are attached below.
