abstract design with multi-colored lines
Gold line
Stellenbosch University Mathematical Exploration Olympiad

9:00-9:30: Introduction, rules, partition of participants

9:30-10:00: Announcement and selection of concepts (3 per group)

10:00-12:00: Round 1 (Formulation of original research questions)

12:00-13:00: Presentation and Judging of Research Questions

13:00-15:00: Round 2 (Research towards answering the questions)

15:00-16:00: Presentation and Judging of Research Progress

16:30-17:00: Feedback from judges and announcement of Prize winning groups

Sunday 27 August 2023

Venue: Industrial Psychology and Mathematical Sciences Building

Stellenbosch University

Meal vouchers will be provided

This Future Mathematicians Programme Expedition is put together by:






Champion: Zurab Janelidze (pilot)

Site: Stellenbosch University (27 August 2023)

Crew: Mesias Alfeus (judge), Gideo Joubert, Sibusiso Moyo, Jonathan Shock (judge), Francois van Niekerk (judge), Cerene Rathilal, Carlyle Stewart (co-organiser and idea inceptor)

abstract design with multi-colored lines
Gold line

Concepts for the competition:

  • metric space
  • ordered set
  • natural number system
  • continuous function
  • ring
  • span of vectors
  • semigroup
  • cartesian product of sets
  • tree
  • matrix

The Olympiad was opened bythe Director of the Future Mathematicians Programme, Dr. Cerene Rathilal, who joined in via Zoom to address the participants.

The participants organised into four teams of three members each Two teams were from UCT and two teams were from SU
Just before the start of Round 1 Professor Sibusiso Moyo Vice Rector of Research at SU addressed the participants

Of the four participating teams, two winning teams were selected by the judges. The winning teams were invited to continue on the work started at the competition to claim R 10 000 Prize of the SU Vice-Rector of Research. One of the teams who claim the prize will be fully funded to present their work at the upcoming SAMS Congress.