Carnegie Mellon Qatar holds second annual contest, draws 400 high school students from across Qatar

A team from the DPS-Modern Indian School took the top prize at the second annual Pi Day Mathematics Competition held at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), followed by Qatar Academy, International School of Choueifat, and a second team from DPS Modern Indian School.

“We created the Pi Day Mathematics Competition to inspire teachers and students in Qatar to explore math and get excited about it,” says Hasan Demirkoparan, associate teaching professor of mathematics at CMU-Q. He and Zelealem Yilma, assistant teaching professor of mathematics, are organizers of the competition.

Mathematicians worldwide have embraced March 14 (3/14) as Pi Day, an opportunity to celebrate and encourage learning in mathematics. Pi is the symbol π, which represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, or approximately 3.14.

Al khaliji bank sponsored the event, providing prizes for all of the final round participants. Mr. Fahad Abdulla Al Khalifa, Group Chief Executive Officer at al khaliji, said: “A strong foundation in mathematics is crucial for young people as they look to their future studies and careers. We are proud to support Pi Day Mathematics Competition and the work Carnegie Mellon is doing to strengthen the knowledge economy in Qatar.”

For the preliminary round, students gathered in teams to complete a 40-question challenge; many of the questions were proposed by local high school teachers. This year, Demirkoparan and Yilma also included an Arabic translation in the question booklet. “We are trying to reach every school with this competition, and the translation means we could include schools where math is taught in Arabic,” said Demirkoparan.