Peter's Problem

In 2012 the IMTA Council decided to inaugurate a special competition for Transition Year pupils. Dedicated to the memory of the late Peter Tiernan and the many years of devoted work which he had given to the Association, the competition was designed to be based on problem-solving and was named as Peter’s Problem.

Please contact petersproblem2027@gmail.com if your school would like to enter the 2027 competition. Peter’s Problem is distributed to schools early in January. It is open to individual students and groups (of THREE or less) under the direction of their teacher. This is an approved activity of Engineers Week which runs from 27th February to 5th March 2027.

The first year of the competition was confined to the Midlands Branch as a pilot scheme. The problem designers and coordinators were Dominic Guinan, Neil Hallinan, Michael Brennan and Michael Moynihan. The competition went country-wide in 2014 and has been coordinated by Dominic and Neil since then.

There were 330 entries for Peter’s Problem 2025 from 56 teachers (in 36 schools). The competition was won by Ben Maguire from Castleknock College. He received a voucher for €400 and the school was presented with an IMTA trophy.

There were 354 entries for Peter’s Problem 2024 from 72 teachers (in 48 schools). The competition was won to Nick Kuzmin, Mickey Chung and Joseph Liscoe from Dundalk Grammar School. They received a cheque from the Irish Mathematics Teachers’ Association for €200 each and their teacher Stephen Begley, received €100.