A few weeks ago, after a long hard day of studying, seventeen Year 12 and 13 students sat the 90 minute UKMT Senior Maths. Challenge in M6. This was the largest number of 6th formers we have entered for this annual competition that is designed to stretch the thinking of even the brightest young mathematical minds up and down the country.

This year, no fewer than 13 of our A’ Level Maths. students were awarded certificates for this prestigious event, as follows: GOLD – Robert Ayres ; SILVER – Ben Kear and Daniel Cook ; BRONZE – Thomas Ward, Carla Werrell, Onel Ayupala, Sean Underwood, Sam Carr, Jacob Cockbill, Oliver Swatton, Cara Duggan, Evie Swatton and Joseph Tolley.

The photograph below shows the proud students receiving their certificates in a recent Sixth Form assembly.

Here is a question similar to those that the students had to tackle in the challenge:

Q.  Peter has 25 cards, each printed with a different integer from 1 to 25. He wishes to place N cards in a single row so that the numbers on every adjacent pair of cards have a prime factor in common. What is the largest value of N for which this is possible ?

A. 16 B. 18 C. 20 D. 22 E. 24

( Ans. = C )