We take our hats off to the Philippine team which finished first runner-up at the recent 8th International Youth Mathematicians Convention in Lucknow, India.
The team, composed of junior and senior high school students from different schools in Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon, have made their countrymen proud and underscored the hitherto unknown variable and the quotient and made the equation true.
That equation is: Filipino math students are highly competitive and a team to beat, given their discipline and mental sting in this subject which includes the study of topics like quantity, structure, space and change.
Before long, these young mathematicians will be seeking and using patterns to formulate new conjectures and will be resolving the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proof.
They have on their plates, this early, mathematical structures which are verily good models of real phenomena and, parallel to this, are equipped with mathematical reasoning that can provide insight and predictions about nature.
Two sisters—Madelyn Esther Cruz and Margaret Esther Cruz—and Victor Dominic Naraval of team Senior-Philippines A, emerged as the overall first runner-up in the senior division after winning as champion in the team contest and math quiz, and second runner-up in the relay contest.
Apart from the overall first runner-up honor, the 20 students also won 32 other awards in the international math contest participated in by students from the Philippines, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.
While saluting these math masters, we also acknowledge the inestimable role of the Mathematics Trainers Guild-Philippines, particularly, but not limited to, Dr. Simon Chua, Renard Eric Chua, and Aldwin Sahirul; as well as Executive Director Lilia Habacon of the Philippine Science High School System.
They all make us proud.