Luck, logic keys to winning math competition

A local student who has won a regional math competition three years in a row says it’s all a matter of luck and logic.

Churchill’s Karthik Natarajan won the senior individual TD Canada Trust Northwestern Ontario High School Mathematics Competition at Lakehead University Wednesday.

More than 220 students on and off campus competed for the region’s top math spot.

Natarajan, now in Grade 12, won in grades 10 and 11 as well, said he wasn’t so sure he won this year, but must have been lucky. He also said his high school has helped him a lot. The top three senior students were from Churchill.

"We have a great team at Churchill and this is what we do," Natarajn said.

Natarajn added that the skills learned in math can apply to problem solving later in life.

"Basically math is just applied logic and if you can think then you can do math. What you do in math kind of relates to everyday life."

Students had 75 minutes to complete 15 multiple choice and three full-solution questions Wednesday morning. There was also a group competition in the afternoon.

Lakehead University mathematic sciences chair Adam Van Tuyl said the ninth annual contest uses high school math techniques, but advanced problems for the questions.

"It’s to give students a day of fun to show that math is fun, give them a day off of school and give them some interesting problems to work on," Van Tuyl said.

It’s also about trying to attract students to Lakehead’s math department and the school in general. The top student attending Lakehead receives a $500 to the school.

"Hopefully they will think about doing math at LU or even just come to LU," Van Tuyl said.

Natarajn is not planning on a career in math or an academic pursuit at Lakehead University. He said he wants to go into biology.