Some of the region's best and brightest Year 12 students battled for top number-crunching honours at this year's ANU Maths Day.

32 teams of students from throughout the ACT and further afield including Batemans Bay, the Snowy Mountains, Young, Bega and Sydney competed for this year's prize but it was The Canberra College, Woden that won the day.

Maths Day Coordinator Dr Stephen Roberts from the Mathematical Sciences Institute said Maths Day, which has been running in the ACT since 1982, gave participants the chance to take part in fun activities and meet fellow maths students.

"The day is really about having fun and enjoying mathematics," he said. "The skills of the students are very varied, so the day is structured so that everyone can have a go. It also gives students from the smaller schools the chance to meet 160 other students who are enthusiastic about maths."

The day was divided into five challenges - a 'Poster' challenge, a 'Group' of story problems, a 'Swiss' find the rule problem, a 'Cross' number puzzle and the day's highlight, a test of brainpower and physical stamina - the 'Relay'.

"In the Relay teams are divided into two groups but have to alternate in solving the problems. There were 64 groups running backwards and forwards. You wouldn't have wanted to get in their way - they wanted to win and wanted to get involved. It was very dynamic," said Stephen.

While The Canberra College were the day's overall winners, MacKillop Catholic College and Monaro High School were also rewarded as Most Improved City and Country School respectively.

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