Government Chief Scientific Adviser maths challenge for National Numeracy Day

To celebrate National Numeracy Day in May 2024, we were delighted to support the UK Government Office for Science (GO-Science) and Government Chief Scientific Adviser with an Olympics-themed maths challenge.

Watch the video below for an introduction to the challenge from the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Dame Angela McLean. Can you work out what the four track and field athletics events are from the graphs of their Olympics records over time?

You can also see the full challenge and take a closer look at the graphs on our GO-Science challenge page.

The activity is aimed at a wide audience of all ages from 11 to adult. Being comfortable with looking at graphs to read the information they present is a vital part of the mathematics of life, and this activity is designed to give everyone an engaging opportunity to build their confidence and skills.

You can find the answers - and links to follow-on resources - here.

This National Numeracy Day challenge is based on an activity originally developed as part of our 'Maths and Sport: Countdown to the Games' resources to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Our 'Maths and Sport' initiative was a partner project in the London 2012 Get Set+ education programme, and was awarded the London 2012 Inspire Mark. 

If you enjoyed the challenge, you can find the original longer Olympics Records resource (featuring different events!) on our NRICH website, and discover more about the mathematics of sport in this collection of articles, podcasts and videos from Plus.