Doha, QATAR: Qatar high schoolers with an aptitude for math celebrated Pi Day early this year with a competition at CMU-Q. Pi Day is celebrated on March 14 (3/14). Pi is the symbol π, which represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, which is approximately 3.14.

The preliminary round of the competition took place on February 20, with over 250 student participants representing more than 50 independent and international schools. Working in teams of four, students were given two hours to answer 60 multiple choice mathematics questions covering a wide range of topics from the high school curriculum. The four teams with the highest scores were invited back to CMU-Q to participate in the final round, which took place on March 12. The top four teams included two from Doha College, one from Tariq bin Ziad Boys’ School and one from the International School of London, Qatar.

The final round consisted of 16 rounds of questions. In each round, a mathematics question was presented to all teams, who then had 90 seconds to come up with the solution. Placing first was the team from the International School of London, Qatar, consisting of students Ali Abdeen, Abdulla Al Rumaihi, Go Eun Heo, and Dongwon Nam and mentored by Mrs. Kalyani Shankar.

The competition was organized to help promote science and mathematics education in Qatar by bringing students together to exchange ideas and foster a sense of community.

For more information about disciplines available at Carnegie Mellon Qatar please visit: qatar.cmu.edu/academics