To commemorate the ancient Chinese mathematician Zu Chongzhi, the International Mathematical Association in 2011 set March 14 as the International Mathematics Festival, which is also the International PI Day. On November 29, 2019, UNESCO officially announced March 14 each year as the International Mathematics Day, also known as the "Pi Festival".
On this special day, Qiuzhen College of Tsinghua University successfully held the third Pi Festival Challenge, which takes this opportunity to improve students' ability to raise and solve problems and strengthen communication and interaction with middle school students.
Under the active initiative of President Mr.Shing-Tung Yau, from February 29 to March 6, Qiuzhen College solicited creative propositions from students admitted to the graduate school. The challenge attracted a large number of graduate students, who thought independently or took teamwork to ask a series of challenging questions. These problems not only show the students' profound mathematical skills but also reflect the infinite love and exploration spirit of the students of Qiuzhen College. After the strict review of the expert group, six questions were selected from many questions as the formal questions of the Pi section challenge.
On the morning of March 16th, all the participating middle schools across the country organized their math enthusiasts to answer the questions actively and return the excellent answers to the College. A total of 45 middle schools signed up to participate in this challenge and received nearly 280 excellent answers. The number of participating middle schools increased significantly compared with the previous session, which fully demonstrated the importance and support of each school to mathematics education.
Middle school students participated in answering the questions
On March 17th, Yitwah Cheung, Assosiate Dean of Qiuzhen College, organized the students of Qiuzhen College to review the papers. The six examiners first shared their ideas, and then the students were divided into six groups to systematically review the returned papers. This link is not only a test of students' mathematical ability but also the collision and communication of their mathematical thinking with the majority of middle school mathematics enthusiasts.
Students will share their ideas about solving the problem
Qiuzhen students discuss the idea of solving problems
Take a photo at the marking site
On April 1st, in Mr.Yau's "History of Mathematics" class, Qiuzhen College held the award ceremony of the Pi Festival Challenge. The ceremony was presided over by Mr.Yitwah Cheung, Academic Dean of Qiuzhen College, and broadcast live on B station, inviting the participating middle school teachers and students to witness this moment. In this Pi Challenge, the students who won the Best Proposition Award are Wang Zichang, Wang Zichang, Wang Yifan, Zuo Junchi, Li Hao, Lin Shichun, Yang Mengqi, Zhou Zixin, Nan Yiheng, Gao Zhiyuan. Wang Zichang, Wang Zichang, Wang Yifan, Zuo Junchi, Li Hao, Lin Shichun, Yang Mengqi, Zhou Zixin, Nan Yiheng, Gao Zhiyuan. At the same time, among the 45 participating middle schools, mathematics lovers of Chengdu Jinjiang District Jiaxiang Foreign Language Senior High School, Chongqing No.8 Middle School, Chongqing Nankai Middle School, Chongqing Bashu Middle School, The Middle School Affiliated to Northeast Normal University, Guangdong Experimental Middle School, Hangzhou Xuejun Middle School, Henan Experimental Middle School, Hunan Changsha No.1 Middle School, Middle School affiliated to South China Normal University, Jinan Licheng No.2 Middle School, Jiangsu Suzhou Middle School, Jiangsu Tianyi Middle School, The Middle School affiliated to Jiangxi Normal University, Shenzhen Middle School, Sichuan Mianyang Middle School, Wuhan Foreign Language School, Xi'an Tietyi Middle School, Yali Middle School and Yueqing Zhilin Middle School performed well in this challenge and showed a strong mathematical literacy.
Mr.Yau made a speech at the award ceremony
Mr.Yau presented awards to the students who won the "Best Proposition Award"
At the end of the award ceremony, Mr.Yau summarized the significance of the "Pi" festival challenge. He stressed that the "Pi" challenge held by the College is to train students to ask "meaningful" questions, and to enhance the communication between students and math lovers in middle schools, to form a good atmosphere for learning math. He pointed out that to be a good mathematician, it is just as important to ask questions as to answer them. A good subject needs someone to constantly ask questions to promote the development of the whole subject. For example, the proposal of Hilbert's 23 questions, which covers at least a third of the direction of mathematics, had an important impact on mathematics in the first half of the 20th century. The Weil conjecture also influenced the whole algebraic geometry and algebraic number theory in the 20th century. Mr.Yau encouraged the students and math enthusiasts to constantly hone themselves, dare, and be good at asking questions, saying that meaningful questions can often be asked in seemingly ordinary places. Finally, he welcomes the students who have performed well in this challenge to apply for the College and continue to pursue mathematics together with the students.
The successful holding of the third Pi Festival Challenge of Qiuzhen College not only improves students' mathematical literacy and innovation ability, stimulates their interest in exploration, but also strengthens the communication and contact between young students. Qiuzhen College will continue to make unremitting efforts to cultivate more excellent mathematical talents.
Contributed by Wu Xiwen
Typography by Sun Yuanyuan
Review by Wang Xiaofang
Translation by Gao Xudong