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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday June 9, 2007 - 5 Fern Hill math whiz kids nearly perfect By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF I know two grandfathers, of different ages, whose ages are between 40 and 100 years. Both of their ages are multiples of two. Last year, both of their ages were multiples of three and next year both of their ages will be multiples of five. The difference in their ages is... A) 26 years, B) 31 years, C) 25 years, D) 32 years or E) 30 years. For many children, and adults for that matter, questions like this are the things nightmares are made of and with test time ticking away the temptation to determine an answer through eenie, meanie, miney, moe may prove too great to pass up. However, this mathematical brainteaser and many others like it, proved to be no match for Fern Hill Grade 5 students Sahil Ahuja and classmate Neil Sachdev, who prevailed in the nationwide Fibonacci Math Contest 2007. The challenge of the March contest, organized by the Mathematics Contest Centre at Sacred Heart College in Quebec, was accepted by more than 14,000 students from 680 schools located all across Canada. Ahuja and Sachdev ate the contest for breakfast with Ahuja scoring a 39 out of a possible 40 questions, coming in third in the overall contest while Sachdev scored a 38 and was ranked 13th in the contest. On top of achieving such amazing scores they did it without the aid of calculators. "Some of the questions were difficult and some were pretty easy," said Ahuja. "I just really tried my best to do whatever I could do." BARRIE ERSKINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER TOP MARKS: Fern Hill Grade 5 students Neil Sachdev and Sahil Ahuja proudly display their certificates for finishing third and 13th among 14,000 students competing in the nationwide Fibonacci Math Contest 2007. Sachdev took a similar approach to the contest. "I try my best and nothing bad can happen," he said. A heavy dose of studying also prepared the boys for the contest with Ahuja saying he spent about three hours preparing with study time permitted in class during the weeks leading up to the contest. "I studied over the March Break a little bit," said Sachdev. "I did too," echoed Ahuja. At home the boys' methods of study differed drastically with Ahuja finding he gets the best results from a quiet room with no distractions while Sachdev prefers to listen to music. The boys also differ in how they spend their time outside of school with Ahuja enjoying competitive swimming while Sachdev plays a variety of sports including baseball, hockey, basketball and soccer. While the boys may differ in study habits and extra circular activities one similarity is their love of mathematics which each calls his favourite subject in school. They're not the only ones. As Ahuja and Sachdev were writing their test, other Fern Hill School students participated in several other national math contests with many also achieving impressive high scores. In the Grade 6 Pythagoras Contest Thomas Broadley received a score of 42 out of 50 and was ranked 257th out of nearly 20,000 participating students. In the Grade 7 Euler Contest Melissa Ge scored a 32 out of 35 and was ranked 14th in a contest of over 7,500 students, while in the Grade 8 Lagrange Contest Brent Parker scored a 37 out of 40 and was ranked 16th in a contest of over 6,000 students. "These students are highly motivated and they enjoy the challenge of learning new material and finding solutions in innovative ways," said Fern Hill mathematics teacher, Lyn Foo. "Many of our students are working at least one year ahead of their current grade level." Prizes for those achieving high scores in the contests ranged from certificates, medals and plaques to cash prizes of $200, $100 and $50. Fern Hill is a private school for students in Preschool to Grade 8 with campuses in Oakville and Burlington. PLASMA TELEVISION PLASMA TELEVISION Deeper blacks and more natural colour tones all wrapped up in a thin, high-resolution flat panel screen - equally stunning on or off. With screen sizes similar to those at the movie theatre, the Panasonic Viera plasma provides a theatre-like experience at home. Change your perspective on television ­ consider the exclusive Panasonic Viera plasma at Canadian Sound in downtown Oakville. Creating sensational smiles in Oakville for 15 years.