When Did Japan Get Its Own Math Kangaroo?
いつから日本に「マスカンガルー」がやってきた？ Japan has plenty of unusual competitions for children, but few can be as wonderfully odd as a mathematics contest called the Kangaroo. 日本には子ども向けの変わったコンテストがたくさんありますが、「カンガルー」という名前の算数・数学大会ほど面白いものは、そう多くないでしょう。2026年、日本でも「マスカンガルー日本大会」が始まりました。そこで、考えRooらしい疑問が浮かびます。そもそも、なぜ算数・数学の大会が「カンガルー」なのでしょうか？答えをたどっていくと、オーストラリアからフランスを経て、そして日本へとつながっていきます。 In 2026, Japan got its own Math Kangaroo competition. And that raises a very Kangaeroo question. Why is a mathematics competition called a kangaroo in the first place? The answer takes us from Australia to France and, eventually, to Japan. It Started In Australia オーストラリアで始まった The story begins with an Australian mathematics competition. In 1978, Australian mathematician and educator Peter O’Halloran and his colleagues launched the Australian Mathematics Competition. The idea was rather different from the sort of mathematics test many people might associate with the…