Students from Truro College have just been presented with their certificates for participating in this year's United Kingdom Maths Trust Senior Maths Challenge.

The UKMT was founded in 1996 to advance the education of children and young people in mathematics. Through the Maths Challenges and team competitions the UKMT aim to stimulate greater interest in mathematics across the 11-18 age group, encouraging participation and rewarding enthusiasm and achievement.

Of the 48 students from Truro College that took part, four students received gold, 11 received silver and 13 received bronze. The certificates were presented by Truro College principal Jonathan Burnett in a presentation ceremony held at the college.

The Maths Challenge is also used as an entry for the qualifying rounds of the British Mathematical Olympiad. Two Truro College students achieved the necessary marks, over 90 per cent, to qualify.

Vitaly Babenko and Hazel Brickhill must participate in two further qualifying rounds to earn a place at the British Mathematical Olympiad held in Cambridge. From there they could go on to represent Britain at the International Mathematical Olympiad.

Speaking after the presentation ceremony lecturer Janet Dangerfield said: "This year's students did very well indeed, especially the ones who went on to try the first round of the British Maths Olympiad. As an example of the questions, find four prime numbers less than 100 which are factors of 332 - 232, without using a calculator."