Hundreds of schoolchildren battled it out by the numbers in the annual Matharapa competition at Wairarapa College this week.
Leigh Kube, Wairarapa Mathematics Association president, said pupils had descended on the Masterton college from schools throughout the region for the annual regional contest held over Wednesday and Thursday.
It involved about 350 Year 5 to Year 10 competitors and 60 senior students who volunteered to mark and tally scores at the event, which pitted pupils against each other over a range of mathematical questions and conundrums.
Students, in teams of three, answered questions individually and as a team, required to use their mathematical skill and knowledge to solve problems of varying degrees of difficulty, Mr Kube said.
Prizes were handed out to the top-performing schools in each age group, he said, and this year the Mayor of South Wairarapa, Adrienne Staples, presented age-group trophies to winners from the district that came on top, with prize packs comprising calculators, stationary, maths puzzle books, bags, water bottles, and chocolates and confectionary.
