About 700 Vietnamese students join US mathematics contest hinh anh 1Nearly 700 students from across the country took part in the American Mathematics Competition (AMC 10/12) held at Chu Van An High School in Hanoi on February 2. (Photo: tintuc.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – Nearly 700 students from 47 secondary and high schools took part in the American Mathematics Competition (AMC 10/12) held at Chu Van An High School in Hanoi on February 2.

This is the first time the AMC 10/12 has been held in Vietnam. It brought together a number of winners of the recent national maths contest for gifted students.

The AMC is a 25-question, 75-minute multiple choice examination designed to develop mathematics talent through solving challenging problems.

The contestants were allowed to choose between the English and Vietnamese versions of the examination, and their exam papers will be sent back to the US for grading.

The AMC was first launched by the Mathematical Association of America in 1950, said Associate Professor Le Anh Vinh, Director of the Centre for Educational Research and Applications at Vietnam National University’s University of Education.

Its questions can be solved by applying mathematics to real life situations. These can help create an interest in mathematics and excitement about learning, he added.

About 350,000 students from 6,000 schools in 34 countries around the world participated in the AMC 8, 10 and 12. Some 10,000 of these children are qualified to compete in the next round, the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME).

The Centre for Educational Research and Applications was authorised by the Mathematical Association of America to organise the AMC and AIME from the 2015-2016 school year onward.-VNA
VNA