Maths Camp

Maths Camp for High Achievers

Jack Anderson, a year 10 student, was accepted into the Mathematical Association of Victoria’s school holiday Mathematics program. This program was aimed at “regional students of high mathematics potential”. Jack was nominated by the Maths Department to attend and his strong application allowed him entry into the program. Jack worked with 23 students from around regional Victoria to solve real world maths problems. He also heard presentations from Ford, Reserve Bank of Australia, Texas Instruments and VSSEC and past students of the MAV maths camp. The group also met mathematics lecturers from most of the top universities in Melbourne. 

Jack said he thoroughly enjoyed the week. He learnt a lot about maths and was able to have a look at some careers in the mathematics field. Jack’s highlight of the week was the application of geometry and the use of parallax and parsecs to calculate distance between stars.

Based on Jack’s passions, he joined four other students to form an Engineering team. His group was given the challenge of determining which of three vehicles was the safest and they were given three scenarios to test each vehicle in. A mentor from FORD was assigned to assist the team.

Jack’s team then determined which mathematical formulas and models were relevant to determining how safe the car was. They also made relevant assumptions (i.e. the density of air), which enabled them to complete the relevant calculations. After this, they chose to model the three vehicles on actual vehicles; Vehicle 1 – Ford Mondeo, Vehicle 2 – Ford 150 Lightning and Vehicle 3 – Ford Ranger. They considered a number of variables in their calculations such as tyre surface area and friction, driver assist technology, mass, air resistance and height of the car. After completing the calculations (9 different equations), they determined that overall, Vehicle 3 was the safest. The final aspect of the project involved improving the design of each vehicle to improve safety and handling. The discovered that there was always a trade-off between usability and safety (especially for the Ford Ranger) and also that cost was a factor when designing cars.

I had the privilege of watching Jack and his team present the findings of their research to the entire group of teachers, students and MAV, FORD, VSSEC and RBA staff over Zoom. Jack spoke brilliantly and the team clearly articulated the results of their investigation. The Maths Department is extremely proud of Jack’s contribution to this camp and the way in which he has represented our school. Well done Jack!

Rhys Leslie 

Head of Maths