Ho Pi-yen, president of the National Association of Student Learning Achievement Assessment which helped organize the Taiwan portion of the competition, said 500,000 grade school students from around the world took part in the U.S.-sponsored competition.

Twenty-seven contestants from around the world achieved full credits, with nine or one-third of the total from Taiwan, Ho said, adding that the figures are an indication of local elementary schoolchildren's outstanding mathematics skills and speed.

A further analysis of the test results showed that local students are good at algebra but seemed to be weak in logical conjecture, geometry and probability questions, Ho said.

According to Ho, all questions in which more than 90 percent of local contestants gave correct answers were those related to numerical calculations and quantity and algebra, indicating that local students have a fair understanding of basic mathematics concepts.

The association held an award-presentation ceremony Sunday to honor high-mark individual achievers in the international competition and those who performed well in separate English and mathematics contests.

Speaking at the occasion, Shen Si-nien, a sixth grader at National Taipei University of Education's elementary school who won full marks in the international mathematics speed contest, said interest is key to mathematics study.

"Don't be afraid of mathematics. If you take interest in the subject, you'll learn it quickly and happily," he said.

(By Sofia Wu)