Bult - University of the Free State

Personeel
Johan Meyer praises
the beauty of maths
By Margaret Linström
The commitment of Prof. Johan Meyer of our
Department of Mathematics and Applied
Mathematics to his subject is plain to see,
but it’s when he speaks about “the beauty
of a mathematical problem” that you realise
that it’s more than mere commitment, this is
passion speaking.
This passion he lives out by devoting much of his
free time to the drawing up of question papers for
mathematical olympiads and to the training of learners
in preparation for these events. He says that the work
he does for the various olympiads is “almost like a
hobby. I see the olympiads as a type of community
involvement. I do it for the love of the subject and for
the promotion of mathematics. Right through your life
you collect mathematical problems, and you jot them
down. Then for the olympiads everybody brings their
stash of problems. We discuss them, and try to solve
them. That is part of why I do it.”
Prof. Meyer is involved in mathematical olympiads from
the highest level right down to provincial level. Right
at the top of the pile is the International Mathematical
Olympiad (IMO), for which he is the South African
representative. The IMO is the world championship for
high school learners and it is held in a different country
every year. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959,
with only seven countries participating, and since then it
has grown to over 90 countries on five continents.
Prof. Meyer explains that “learners, who have been
chosen to take part in the IMO, have to undergo intense
training beforehand as the mathematical problems,
which need to be solved at that level, are extremely
difficult”.
Another olympiad which Prof. Meyer devotes time and
energy to is the Pan African Mathematics Olympiad
(PAMO). PAMO is held in a different African country
once a year, and this year Pretoria will host it. Prof.
Meyer’s involvement in PAMO is on the Problems’
Committee, and he is primarily involved with the
drawing up and moderating of question papers.
The South African Mathematics Olympiad (SAMO)
also utilizes Prof. Meyer’s vast expertise. This premier
mathematics competition is almost as old as the
International Mathematical Olympiad. It is a three
round competition which is presented at both junior
and senior level. The first round attracts some 50 000
entries from all over the country. The paper consists of
multiple-choice questions, and mathematics teachers
at the different schools mark the papers themselves.
Learners need to get 50% to progress to the second
round, and only 100 are selected for the third round.
It’s for this third round which Prof. Meyer serves on the
committee which sets up the senior question paper.
The ten best achievers win medals and according to
Prof. Meyer the prize-giving ceremony is “a big event” for
those who make the final grade.
At provincial level there are other mathematics
competitions, which the professor says is “like the Currie
Cup between the provinces”. There are 16 regions
countrywide, and the Free State has been showing its
mettle at junior and senior level because of the excellent
training programmes available to learners. One of these
programmes with which Prof. Meyer is actively involved
is the Nautilus Mathematics Project, an initiative which he
describes as exciting.
Learners are taught techniques and problem solving at
the Nautilus workshops which are held four times a year.
Prof. Meyer’s involvement is with the Grade 11 and 12
learners.
But is mathematics a subject where you ever know
it all? Prof. Meyer smiles when he answers that “a
mathematician never stops learning. The more you know,
the more there is you do not know. It’s like a circle with
an outer edge – the bigger the circle, the bigger the outer
edge, and the edge is what you don’t know. That makes
it so exciting – to continually make new discoveries.”
Prof. Johan Meyer.
50 Bult 51
Photo: Hannes Pieterse