Mathematics Trainers' Guild President Dr. Simon L. Chua received a nice send-off gift before flying to England to receive one of the highest international accolades given to mathematicians. Prior to receiving the 2006 Paul Erdos Award at the World Federation of National Mathematics Conference in Cambridge, Dr. Chua was the team leader of the Philippine contingent to the Po Leung Kuk 10th Primary Mathematics World Contest (PMWC) in Hong Kong, China from July 17 to 21. Sixteen members of the MTG's primary level roster comprised the delegation, which bagged 2nd Honors 3rd Honors awards in the event.

The PMWC is an international mathematics competition for kids aged 13 and below. Because of its long existence and growing participation, it is slowly gaining recognition as the elementary version of the prestigious International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). It is sponsored by the Po Leung Kuk organization and is being held in Hong Kong, China each year. The MTG has been sending some of its best trainees to represent the Philippines since the contest's inception in 1997. It has enjoyed success in this competition through the years, bringing home numerous awards from it every time.

Two 2nd and six 3rd honors

This year was no different. Vance Eldric Go and Carmela Antoinette Lao, both grade 6 students from St. Jude Catholic School, led the charge for the Philippines in this contest. Both won 2nd Honors, each after getting 14 out of the 15 problems correctly in the individual contest.

Meanwhile, Arvin Wilson Alba (gr. 6, San Beda College, Alabang), Elvis Jeremy Ayroso (1st yr., Philippine Science High School), Marc Terence Co (gr. 7, Xavier School), Immanuel Encarnacion (1st yr., Philippine Science), Aldric Cristoval Reyes (1st yr., Chiang Kai Shek College), and Zheng Rong Wu (1st yr., Zamboanga Chung Hua High School), all got 13 out of 15, en route to bagging 3rd Honors certficates.

Other members of the Philippine team were: Arielle Chua (1st yr., St. Jude), Darwin Ivan Carrasco (1st yr., Las Pinas East National High School), Paula Micah Chua (1st yr., Dee Hwa Liong Academy), Brendon Matthew Go (gr. 5, Xavier School), Maria Socorro Kristina Medina (1st yr., Philippine Science), Michael Ongkauko (gr. 6, Xavier School), Fred Nyll Tupas (1st yr., Philippine Science), and Ryan Joseph Yu (gr. 7, Xavier School).

Accompanying the teams aside from the Guild's president were MTG Officers Mrs. Rechilda Villame, Dr. Isidro Aguilar, Mrs. Sanet Hipolito, and Mrs. Elenita Boo, and Mrs. Geraldine Subida of DOST-SEI. Serving as deputy team leaders were Mrs. Eva Aguilar, Mr. Jonathan Hicap, and Mr. Joseph Wee. Most of the contestants' parents also made the trip to provide the needed moral support for our contestants.

Most in four years

The eight honors certificates amassed by the Philippine team in this year's PMWC have been the most it had in four years. It brought back seven (one 2nd Honors, six 3rd Honors) in 2005, four in 2004 (two 2nd Honors, two 3rd Honors), and one in 2003 (one 3rd Honors).

The delegation however, missed out once again on a perfect chance of nabbing 1st Honors, an award that has eluded the country for seven straight years already. Go and Lao only made one mistake in the individual competition, but that already proved fatal enough to relegate them into a lower tier. The 3rd Honors recipients meanwhile, all got two mistakes. This makes it one of the rare times that 15, 14, and 13 are the cut-off marks for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Honors, respectively. In previous PMWC's, a 13 could get 1st Honors, 11 is sometimes good for 2nd, and 8 is sometimes good for 3rd. But this year, the questions were relatively easy, and thus, the cut-offs were high. Cut-offs are determined such that approximately, the top 1/12 of all participants gets 1st Honor, the next 2/12 get 2nd Honor, and the next 3/12 get 3rd Honor.

The delegation also missed out on duplicating last year's 1st runner-up finish in the team contest, or nabbing any team awards for that matter. The highest scoring Philippine Team, Metro Manila - composed of Carmela Lao, Immanuel Encarnacion, Aldric Reyes, and Darwin Carrasco - got 8 out of the 10 team questions correct. However, they had the misfortune of being bracketed with the four teams that got perfect scores in that event. In the team contest, teams are randomly bracketed into groups of around 10 teams. Scores of each team are only compared against those within the same group, and the top three teams in each group are awarded champion, 1st runner-up, and 2nd runner-up trophies.

For all its worth, the Philippine team did a remarkable job in this contest. The haul of two 2nd Honors and six 3rd Honors certificates is even more special considering the stiff competition our wards had to face in this contest. This year's PMWC featured a record 52 teams coming from 16 countries, which include Australia, Bulgaria, China, Japan, and the United States. Team Hong Kong A wound up as the over-all champion. China's Team Dalin was second, while Team Kaohsiung-Tainan of Taiwan placed third.

Send-off gift

The awards were also a nice present for Dr. Simon L. Chua, who was the team leader of the Philippine delegation. He was set to fly to Cambridge, England for the 6th World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions Conference, where he is going to be feted as one of the Paul Erdos Awardees for 2006. The Paul Erdos Award is a prestigious award given out to those who made great contributions in the field of national mathematics competitions.

The MTG Kids' achievements in the 10th PMWC is a testament to Dr. Chua's contributions as president of the MTG. They also do not come as that much of a surprise, as most of the representatives enjoyed numerous successes in various international math contests over the past two years. For instance, Carmela Lao also a 2nd Honors recepient from last year's PMWC. This makes her just the second Filipino to accomplish back-to-back 2nd Honors in this contest.

In addition, members of this year's PMWC squad also accounted for five 3rd Honors (Lao, Elvis Ayroso, Immanuel Encarnacion, Vance Go, Aldric Reyes) in both Calculation Skills and Problem Solving in the 2004 China "I Love Math" Summer Primary Olympiad; one silver (Lao) and one bronze (Darwin Carrasco) in the 2004 India Elementary Mathematics International Contest; one gold (Lao) and one silver (Reyes) in the 2004 International Mathematics and Science Olympiad for Primary Schools (IMSOPS); one gold (Reyes), four silver (Carrasco, Go, Lao, Marc Co), and three bronze (Ayroso, Encarnacion, Wu) in the 2005 Philippine Elementary Mathematics International Contest; one 1st Honors (Lao), one 2nd Honors (Carrasco), and five 3rd Honors (Arvin Alba, Paula Chua, Maria Medina, Fred Tupas, Zheng Rong Wu) in Calculation Skills, and four 2nd Honors (Carrasco, Lao, Medina, Wu) and three 3rd Honors (Alba, Chua, Tupas) in Problem Solving of the 2005 China "I Love Math" Olympiad; two bronze medals in the 2005 IMSOPS (Encarnacion, Brendon Go); and two BH Neumann Certificates for perfect scorers (Encarnacion, Reyes) in the 2005 Australian Mathematics Competition.

More competitions

More MTG Kids are due to go outside the country for more international math competitions. As of this writing, eight high school students are in China to compete at the 3rd Southeast China Mathematical Olympiad (SeCMO). Then on August, two batches of MTG Kids will be competing in the 2006 China "I Love Math" Primary and Junior High School Summer Olympiads. In between, MTG Kids will also be taking part on the world's largest international correspondence-type competition, the Australian Mathematics Competition.

With satisfying results posted in recent competitions participated in by the MTG, 2006 seems to be shaping up into another banner year for the organization. Hopefully this string of good accomplishment gets carried on by the batches of MTG Kids that are still to compete in the upcoming months.

Congratulations to the Philippine delegation to the Po Leung Kuk 10th Primary Mathematics World Competition!