IT IS the enduring image of the 1997 blockbuster Titanic — Leonardo DiCaprio’s lifeless body sinking into the icy depths, while Kate Winslet floats to safety on a wardrobe door.

But now an award-winning group of Westminster students has proved both their characters — Jack and Rose — would have survived if they put their minds to it.

Abigail Wicks, Christy Zhang and Julia Damato used their own research and mathematical formulae to discover the lovers would have made it if they both stayed on the door and put their life jackets underneath it to stay afloat.

Christy, 16, came up with the idea for the project after watching Titanic and wondering whether Jack ever had a chance of survival.

media_camera The pivotal moment — was there room for Jack on the floating door? Or was Rose just greedy?

The group last month took out the Year 10 section of the National Maths Talent Quest, in recognition of its discovery.

“We looked at how buoyant the door would have been, and how that would have changed if there were people on top of that,” Abigail, 15, says.

“There was a lot of exploring and testing, and we had to fiddle with different buoyancies and look at what materials were realistic for that time.”

Julia, 15, says the team also needed to factor in how the door’s buoyancy would have been affected by the water’s salt content.

media_camera Westminster School Year 10 students Abigail Wicks, Julia Damato, and Christy Zhang have taken out an award at the National Maths Talent Quest. Picture: AAP/Morgan Sette

Their teacher Angela Phillips says the competition was a good opportunity for students to do “something a little bit different” with their maths skills.

School groups researched several other quirky questions, including whether it was feasible for President Donald Trump to build his wall dividing the US and Mexico.

“They came up with a costing and decided it was possible, but not in his term of office, so they concluded that it would actually never happen,” Mrs Phillips says.

Abigail, Christy and Julia took out the national competition after winning their section of the state-based MASA Junior Secondary Mathematics Enrichment Project Awards.

Three other Westminster teams received high distinctions in those awards.