THE OFFICIALSIMC NEWSLETTERISSUE 6 MAY 26, 2012

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An amazing night for everyone, especially so for the Cham-pions, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Congratulations!

And the Winner is...Award Presentation and Closing CeremonyBy Angela Leong

The ball started rolling official-ly when, the Guest of Honour, Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister of State for the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Education, arrived at the NUS High School auditorium, to triumphant music and thun-derous applause from the audience. Dr Hang Kim Hoo, Principal of NUS High School, then took to the stage for his opening address. He voiced his hopes that the SIMC jour-ney had brought participants from various nations and cultures closer together, and had given educators refresh-ing insights into the sacred duty of imparting mathemati-cal knowledge to the next generation.The audience was then treated to a video montage of

the highlights of SIMC 2012, which showcased the hap-penings of all five days of SIMC.Next, the Chief Judge for SIMC 2012, Professor Ray-mond Chan, took to the stage to share with the audience an overview of and his reflections on the SIMC Challenge. His humorous delivery had the entire auditorium in stitches at various points, and he commended the participating teams for the excellent quality of their solutions, especially in light of the difficulty of this year’s problems. Dr Hang then presented To-kens of Appreciation, beautiful artworks crafted by Mr Syed Mahdar from the NUS High Music and Art Department, to Professor Chan and Dr Fedor

Duzhin, and subsequently Certificates of Participation to student representatives from all 45 participating schools. Finally came the moment that everyone had been waiting for: the presentation of the Awards by Mr Wong. The title of Challenge Cham-pion of SIMC 2012 went to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, who enraptured the audience with their clear and confident presentation of their solution to this year’s challenge.As the ceremony approached its conclusion, Mr Wong delivered his closing address. He highlighted how the SIMC journey had ignited friend-ships and collaborations, and urged that we keep this flame

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Singapore SwingBy Sharne Sulaiman, Ewin Teo, Lim Si Jia, and Ta Ngoc Tu Anh, with additional reporting by Goh Wee Thean, Ian Foo and Jonathan Tan

Epigraph | May 26, 2012

How much of Singapore can you cover in a day?

Most of it, apparently – Singapore’s so small. Triumphant from their oral presentations, the SIMC participants were treated to a whirlwind tour of the island nation, from the enigmatic depths of the Night Safari to the grandeur of the Raffles Hotel. In the span of twenty-four hours, they witnessed near everything that we have to offer; and it didn’t disappoint.

First on the list of thrills: the Singapore Science Center. We arrived just in time to be electrified – figuratively – by the Tesla Coil demonstration. After that, everyone was eager to try their hand at the innumerable exhibits on show, braving simulated hurricanes and creating miniature tsunamis at the touch of a button. Said Mr Alexander Vorontsov, Russian School for Science Gifted Students “Intel-lectual”: “This place is unlike any back home – it’s so interactive. I’d love to visit again.” They topped it off with dinner under the amphitheatre, where there were delicacies like beef balls and pandan chicken.

After that, there was only one thing on everyone’s minds – what goes bump in the dark? Sipping shaved ice laced with pink guava syrup from amusingly shaped bottles, the participants piled onto the Night Safari’s signature leopard-print trams and began, not without trepidation, their descent into darkness. We passed elephants and leopards not even an arms’ breadth away, their piercing gaze at once enthralling and terrifying. More than one person was visibly shaken as they stepped off at the end of the ride. Thankfully, fire breathers and cups of Ben & Jerry’s were on hand to take the edge off for the night.

The participants began the next day in the pursuit of excellence, with a visit to Singapore’s A*STAR, or the Agency for Science, Technol-ogy & Research. There, the first speaker, Dr Lee Hwee Kuan, remarked: “Mathematics should be experienced, instead of being learnt passively.” Throughout the next hour, the audience explored various applications of the research undertaken by A*STAR’s scientists. Dr Lee explored the use of bioinformatics and the importance of precision in engineering and mathematics, followed by Dr Ng See Kiong, who discussed developments in data mining and machine learning. Finally, Mr Soh Yong Sheng shared his experiences in the pursuit of Mathematics, and the choices made in his univer-sity education and career.

One reporter continued on the edge of glory, rous-ing a busload of participants from drowsiness with an exuberant ukulele rendition. Clearly, they were all set for the challenge that was to come. Group 14’s first station was the world’s largest fountain at Suntec City. Affectionately called the “Chop-sticks”, the War Memorial was next, followed by a keystone of Singaporean history – the Raffles Ho-tel. Our friends got a taste of the infamous durian, before going on to CHIJMES, where they indulged in ice kacang, to their great delight. They soon got back on track to the Singapore Art Museum and the National Museum of Singapore, before rushing against the clock to their final destination. Previ-ously host to decades of National Day Parades, today the Padang witnessed Group 14 at the end of their day, exhausted but jubilant.

For a little red dot, Singapore’s certainly full of excitement.

burning bright. The presentation of the Token of Appreciation by Dr Hang to Mr Wong underscored the collaboration between NUS High and the Ministry of Education.What better way to end off the closing cer-emony than with a bang? The video pres-entation certainly marked a worthy finish to

SIMC 2012, as all who were present would testify. Creatively and meaningfully launched by Mr Wong, it was, in essence, a perfect way to mark the culmination of five months of planning, five days of blood, sweat and tears, and two years of waiting.Until SIMC 2014 then.

And the Winner is...Award Presentation and Closing CeremonyBy Angela Leong

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The Challenge Champion: North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics1.Was the win expected?

No. It is, after all, an international compe-tition, and there were many competitive schools. They had really good ideas, and they were stiff competition.

2. How are you going to celebrate your win?

We’re going to play some Frisbee in the dorm! We’ll get some well-deserved sleep too, especially on the long flight back.

3. What are your feelings on the chal-lenge?

It was challenging but really fun. The style of the questions was unexpected, but coming up with solutions to the challeng-es was a great experience overall.

4. Did you face any difficulties?

The questions were different from whatever we had previously experienced before, and it was more intense. There wasn’t a correct answer to the questions, so it was really difficult.

5. Were there points of time where you felt like you weren’t going to succeed?

There were points when we were stuck, and so we split up the work to tackle the problem.

6. In what way was this a fruitful expe-rience?

We really liked the stuff that was outside of the competition, like the Amazing Race. We met a lot of other people from different countries. One of us got to prac-tice Chinese, actually!

7. If you had a chance, what would you have done differently?

We know we made an arithmetic error in the first part! We would probably go back and fix that; maybe we could have done better on the matrices as well. It’s safe to say that we did our best in the competi-tion, though. We worked hard the entire time.

8. What kept you going throughout this gruelling week?

We were just really excited to be here and meet people! We enjoyed this week. We wanted to see as much of Singapore as possible, too - we’ve never been to Singapore before. It was a refreshing experience and a breath of fresh air, very different from the US. It’s so green here! We’d definitely like to come here again!

Winners of Special Awards for Presentation and Creativ-ity, and Distinction recipients: Lorentz Casimir LyceumHow are you going to celebrate your win?

Sleeping in the airplane. And when we get back, the Dutch way!

How did you feel about your competi-tion?

It was challenging, really fun to meet other people. Not tiring at all, absolutely didn’t have to stay up till 2am. . . Really warm too.

What difficulties did you have to over-come during the course of this compe-tition?

Math. Graph Theory. When we started, we had basic knowledge in basically everything except graph theory. Filling up the number into the calculator was the hardest part.

Were you faced by distractions, and how did you overcome them?

Playing football!

If you had a choice, what would you do differently?

Question 1A, we should NOT have recal-culated.

What have you taken away from this experience?

Think thoroughly before you write any-thing down, check your report before handing it in and SKETCH TO SCALE. And Singapore is a nice country!

What kept you going throughout this gruelling week?

Bubble tea. And our awesome SLOs!

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Interview with WinnersOur reporters caught a moment with North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics and Lorentz Casimir Lyceum .

By Goh Wee Thean, Clara L. Apollos, Victoria Tay

“I feel very special to be here and after SIMC I would surely visit Singapore again.”

Gergely Neme, Fazekas Mihaly Sec-ondary Grammer School, Hungary

Parting words

“Now that the Challenge is over, I’m just so relieved to enjoy the fun for today”

Amir Ubaidah Mud Zuki , Sekolah Dato’Abdul Razak, Malaysia

“I’m really relieved it’s over, but it was a great experience.”

Wendy Zhao, The University High School, Australia

“It was fun. It was difficult. But it was fun.”

Vipul Vachharajani, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, USA

“The whole SIMC event is pretty fun and it marked my first trip to Singapore. I got to know lots of friends from other countries.”

Andrew Ta, Illinois Mathematics and Sci-ence Academy, USA

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Epigraph is proudly brought to you by the SIMC 2012 Publica-tions CommitteeAmanda Leong | Amanda Ng | Clara Apollos | Ewin Teo | Goh Wee Thean | Ian Foo | Jonathan Tan | Lau Yu Han | Lim Pei Ying | Lim Si Jia | Mavis Teo | Sharne Sulaiman | Sherilyn Chew | Tan Boon Xin | Ta Ngoc Tu Anh | Tricia Loo | Victoria TayThe Media ClubLim Pin | Dion Ang | Chan Wei Ren | Yap Teng Chiong | Neo Jing Wei | Nicole Aw | Theophilla Toh | Zhong Liang | Chia Zhi Yang | Grace Mak | Aishwarya Kunte | Ernest Yang | Jordan Png | Lim Jia MinTeacher Advisors & EditorsSyed Mahdar Bin Syed Othman | Geneva Koh | Royce Chai | Soong Seck Cher | Ivy Koo | Eunice Chan | Eric Valles | Dustin Chin | Lim Chong Shen | Selva Sundram | Caroline Gordon | Melissa Chin | Bay Wee Wen

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