The number 111 111 is the product of 5 different prime numbers. What is the sum of these 5 prime numbers?
This was a practice Maths Olympiad question that I gave my Maths class last week. Have a think about it and I will give you the answer at the end of the blog (This truly is one of the hardest questions I have seen in the Maths Olympiads since my students first started undertaking them in 1998).
The Maths Olympiad is a problem solving competition that is held each year. On 5 occasions throughout terms 2 and 3 where the students have to answer 5 questions. Problem solving has always been an area where our students have traditionally struggled. The number skills and recall of these students is outstanding but problem solving is a whole different situation. Having to extract mathematical information from text can trick even strong mathematicians.
I start each maths lesson with an Olympiad question from a past paper. In one of the first maths lessons of the year I take the students through a number of strategies that will assist in answering these questions. Some of these strategies include guess and check, draw a table or diagram, work backwards, solve a simpler related problem and look for a pattern just to name a few. Armed with these tips the students tackle the daily questions and the Olympiad papers.
I have never had a student answer all 25 questions correctly in an Olympiad year. Hopefully this year this may occur. 6 students received a perfect score in the first paper which is very positive.
Worked out the answer to the opening question yet?
71
The 5 prime numbers are 3, 7 ,11,13 and 37.
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