In July, Naoki Kozakai submitted his solutions for Round One of the New Zealand Mathematics Olympiad Competition.

Round One is a take-home exam consisting of 8 challenging problems, which students work on over approximately two weeks starting in June. Participation in NZMO1 is open to any New Zealand student. To join, simply download the problems from the NZMO website (https://www.mathsolympiad.org.nz) when they are released, and you submit your solutions and contact details through the online form before the deadline.

Thanks to his success in Round One, Naoki has been invited to participate in Round Two of this prestigious competition. He will sit a three-hour exam at the end of August.

Scores for either round are not announced publicly. Students are notified of their progress by receiving an invitation to Round Two, and after Round Two, they will be informed of any awards they may have earned (gold, silver, bronze, or honourable mention). Additionally, the results from both rounds will determine whether Naoki will be selected to participate in the NZMOC Training Camp, which takes place in January.

An example of one of the question Naoki had to successfully answer:

A rectangular sheet of paper is folded so that one corner lies on top of the corner diagonally opposite. The resulting shape is a pentagon whose area is 20% one-sheet thick, and 80% two-sheets-thick. Determine the ratio of the two sides of the original sheet of paper.

We wish Naoki the best of luck! His continued hard work and dedication demonstrate his drive to build on his already extensive knowledge of mathematics.