Winners played numbers game

More than 40 students and secondary school teachers have been given cash prizes worth more than $1 million in the newly-launched Hang Lung Mathematics Awards set up by Hang Lung Properties to nurture top talent in the field.

The gold award went to Edward Sin Tsun-fan, a first year student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and graduate from Sha Tin Government School, who was given $250,000 in sponsorship for local or overseas studies.

Teachers of the winners and the schools they come from were also awarded cash prizes and development funds.

Harvard-based mathematician Yau Shing-tung, who heads the 15-member international judging panel, said the competition, launched in June, allowed local students to come into contact with top mathematicians in the world.

More than 100 teams joined the competition which involved interviews as well as library research.