The Australian Maths Olympiad (AMO) is a two-day invitational contest of Australia and New Zealand’s brightest mathematical minds and PLC is ecstatic to congratulate Year 11 student, Linda Zou, who was recently awarded a Bronze medal.
Approximately 200 high school students from Australia and New Zealand are invited to take part each year and Linda is one of approximately 30 students chosen from Western Australia. Incredibly, she is only one of three females from her state to receive a medal.
We spoke with Linda to find out more about this competition and her achievement.
How did you become involved in the competition?
I was invited to attend the WA state Maths Olympiad training at the start of Year 10. After weekly trainings and some selective competitions, I was invited to sit the AMO at the start of this year.
What did the competition involve?
The AMO takes two days with four questions to be solved each day. It contains four categories, algebra, combinatorics, number theory, and geometry. Each question takes an average of one hour to solve. Most questions require creativity and thinking outside the box.
Have you always loved Maths?
Most of the time. I have faced a lot of challenges in my mathematic journey so far, but overcoming these challenges is also what I enjoy the most.
What do you hope to do when you finish school?
I haven’t set on a career path yet, but definitely maths related.
What’s something interesting about you that no-one knows?
That I like to talk to myself while solving problems.
And anything else you would like to add?
Maths is far more interesting than just applying formulas and substituting numbers. Investigating beyond the topics and linking between different concepts are the parts I enjoy the most.
I also hope that more females can be involved the Maths Olympiads.
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