CCA Previews ’19: Mathematics Club

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By Cheng Puhua (19S06D), Li Chenxu (19S06H), and Yap Ching Lyn (19S06S)

Hello! Wanna learn more about Maths Club?

Presumably you do, since you’re reading this article. Or maybe you don’t, and you’re just bored to death, scrolling through all the articles while lying on your bed.

If you belong to the latter category, here’s an interesting problem for you:

There are 100 people at a party, and they go around shaking hands with one another. Are there always 2 of them who shook hands with the same number of people?

And if you belong to the former, well, let’s talk about Maths Club.

So what do we do? We do Maths, as our name suggests. All sorts of Maths. Some basics of Olympiad Maths? Check. Extensions of the H2 syllabus? Check. Other puzzles, problems, and paradoxes? Check. And what if something that you are looking for is not there? Just tell us! Being a student-run CCA, we have complete autonomy! Anarchy! So, what we do in Maths Club is only bounded by your imaginations (at least, we’d like to think so).

*We don’t actually cut pizzas into spirals, but if it has always been your childhood dream to do so, we could always hold a gluttonous geometry session. (Source: https://xkcd.com/1986/)*

Jokes aside, here’s a Venn diagram to help you understand the activities we do in Maths Club.

This picture actually belongs to a larger category called fractals. Also, this caption has a hundred and forty-seven characters (including spaces).

Our main objective is not to improve the school’s performance in major competitions such as the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad or the American Mathematics Contest. Neither is it to pull up your H2 grades, though spending time outside of lessons to think about Maths can’t hurt.

Rather, Maths Club is a place where you can have fun while learning about different areas of Mathematics. A session centred around proving techniques, such as induction and proof by contradiction, for example, will help you better understand more advanced Mathematical concepts in the future. In one session, we explored various logic puzzles and hurt ourselves in confusion as we attempted to solve the infamous blue-eyed problem. Other highlights include our annual cake-cutting session — a tasty way to learn about advanced concepts such as the intermediate value theorem as well as the ham sandwich theorem (yes, it is a real thing!).

So who is eligible to join Maths Club? The answer is: everyone! You do not need to be someone acing every single one of his/her Maths exams. You do not need to have any background in Olympiad Maths. All you need is an interest in Mathematics and the willingness to learn.

And because we understand that you have passions other than Mathematics, our sessions are only held once a week (typically on Tuesdays, 1630-1830). You do not have to worry about overdosing on Mathematics or having not enough time for your other CCA (if you have one). With your spare time, you’re free to pursue your other interests, cut (more) pizzas into spirals, or do some last-minute PW. Trust me, you’re going to need that little bit of extra time.

That’s all we have to share, and we hope to see you at our trial sessions! If you’re someone addicted to sudokus and is wondering what lies beyond, then you’ll enjoy what we have in store for you. If you’re someone looking for a way to improve your results at Maths competitions, then we’re the only CCA that can help you. And if you scrolled all the way to look for the solution to the handshake problem, then Maths Club is definitely the CCA for you. We promise that you’ll have the greatest fun thinking and wondering about the curiosities in Mathematics.

Thanks for reading! Here’s a potato for you :>