Kangaroo meeting in Lucerne
Evaluating more than 1000 mathematical problems in 4 days - that was one of the main tasks of the annual country delegates’ meeting of the Association Kangourou sans Frontières (AKSF) from 11 to 15 October in Lucerne.
Meike Akveld is the Chief Organizer of the Kangaroo competition in Switzerland (see interview) and has organized this year's meeting, which was co-financed by ETH Zurich and the Department of Mathematics. Together with Emmanuel Kowalski she warmly welcomed the country delegates who had travelled from all over the world to the Kantonsschule Alpenquai in Lucerne. Sarah Springman, Rector of ETH Zurich surprised the delegates with a external page welcome video.
Every Kangaroo competition exercise is studied by many more people than even the best known mathematical article is.Emmanuel Kowalski (D-MATH)
After the welcoming ceremony the delegates were organized in working groups to evaluate the more than one thousand mathematical problems that have been submitted for the Kangaroo competition, at which more than six million pupils will take part.
For each of the five age categories up to thirty problems had to be selected. In Russian, Spanish, English, French, and many more languages the delegates discussed every problem until the best possible compromise was found. The final problem set will be translated into the respective countries' languages for the competition in March 2018.
About the Kangaroo competition
The Kangaroo competition is a game-contest and aims at popularizing and promoting mathematics with young people. It was created in 1991 in France by André Deledicq and modelled on the Australian Mathematics Competition. The contest is composed of just one round (there is no selection and no preliminary round), and it takes place every year in March, on the same day in all participating countries. It consists of a multiple-choice test of up to thirty questions of increasing difficulty. Six levels are offered: Preschools (7-8 years old), Primary Schools (8-10 years old), Benjamins (11-12 years old), Cadets (13-14 years old), Juniors (15-17 years old), Seniors (18-19 years old).
external page International association Kangourou sans Frontière (AKSF)