Five Borehamwood students reach international math competition final
The students at Haberdashers' Boys' School have spent the last few months preparing for their big final
Five students from Haberdashers' Boys' School in Hertfordshire have landed in New York to compete in the final of a prestigious math competition.
They have been taking part in the international MathWorks Math Modelling Challenge (M3 Challenge) over the last few months, reaching the top three in their category from over 2,700 entrants across the UK and US.
The five boys, Devarshi Mandal, Rajarshi Mandal, Aryan Prabhudesai, Dawei Tao, and Oliver West, are among the finalists in the Technical Computing Award category, marking the school’s second consecutive year of success in the competition.
The challenge tests students’ abilities to apply mathematics to real-world issues through statistical modelling and programming.
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio, Oliver described the mood as a mix of excitement, a bit of nerves, and probably sleep deprivation as well.
The team’s path to the final began last year when they entered the same competition but fell just short of reaching New York.
The students tackled three mathematical questions, dividing work among themselves.
Raj said: "It’s structured into three questions and we divided up question one and two into halves of the team and then we all worked on question three."
Question three, they explained, involved statistical modelling—an area new to them and requiring significant independent research.
Dev noted that while they believed it was achievable—especially after reaching the UK semi-finals last year—they were surprised to make the final, particularly in the Technical Computing category.
Their work involved modelling indoor temperatures during heatwaves and forecasting peak electricity demand in Birmingham.
"We were given lots of data… like outward temperature data, data on levels of shade," Oliver explained.
Raj described the second task as more statistical saying they had to "forecast into the future".
Although some of the mathematical content aligned with what they learn in Year 13, much of their preparation required additional learning.
Beyond the mathematics, the students highlighted the importance of teamwork and complementary skills.
For Oliver, the competition also challenged his academic outlook: "I thought I'd be more of a pure mathematician, but I did enjoy the challenge a lot, and there is a lot of really interesting stuff that goes into it."
Looking to the future, Dev plans to study computer science, while Raj and Oliver intend to pursue mathematics. "I'm probably not super interested in statistics and kind of statistical modelling itself, but it might be something I have to do as a career," Raj said.
While their teacher, Kim Harrison, expressed an immeasurable level of pride from the boys' achievements, she insisted the accomplishment was all theirs.
"If I'm completely honest, my involvement was very, very minimal apart from finding out about the competition. They just took the reins and did themselves," she said.
The students’ success has had a wider impact on the school too, inspiring younger peers.
The final will be taking place on Monday.