The Mowzer brothers have been selected as two of the Western Cape’s top provincial performers in the 2016 South African Mathematics Olympiad (SAMO).
The brothers, Yaseen and Taariq Mowzer both attend Fairbairn College in Goodwood.
The SAMO, which was held on Friday September 16, is organised by the South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF) and is sponsored by an insurance company and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Yaseen has been part of South Africa’s International Mathematical Olympiad team for the past three years.
He believes the questions asked in the SAMO are much more challenging than the normal maths curriculum and said he had learnt so much more by participating in it.
He tackles the easy questions first, giving him enough time for the harder ones. This approach has proved successful, as he has been in the SAMO top 10 for the past four years.
Taariq, Yaseen’s younger brother, said working through past SAMO question papers had helped him improve his performance. This is his second SAMO and he hopes to improve on his performance next year.
The SAMF provincial awards ceremony took place on Friday September 16 at the University of Stellenbosch.
The awards honoured pupils who have done well in the 2016 SAMF olympiad programmes such as the SAMO, Siyanqoba Regional Olympiad Training Programme and SA Mathematics Olympiad Training Programme.
A total of 4229 Western Cape pupils participated in the second round of the SAMO and the best nine seniors between Grades 9 to 12 and the best seven juniors between Grades 8 and 9 were selected as provincial winners, based on their second-round results.
The senior winners were Bronson Rudner, from SACS and Timothy Schlesinger and Andrew McGregor, both from Rondebosch Boys’ High School.
Yaseen was the first senior runner-up The second runners-up were Hannah Clayton, from Rustenburg Girls’ High School; Sangeun Lee, from St George’s Grammar School; Mu-aath Upadhey, from Westerford High School; Simon van Riel, from Westerford High School, and Ralph McDougall from Curro Durbanville.
Taariq was among the junior winners, along with Thomas Warner, from Bishops Diocesan College, and Adri Wessel, from Curro Durbanville.
The first runners-up were Danielle Kleyn, from Hoërskool Parel Vallei; Peter Stead, from El Shaddai Christian School in Bellville, and Sean van Wyk, from Van Wyk Home School in Cape Town. The junior second runner-up was Maryam Badsha from Rustenburg Girls’ High School.