On Tuesday, Nov. 18, more than 65 Auburn High School students took a short break from their normal class schedule to challenge themselves mathematically.
The students participated in Contest No. 2 of a yearlong mathematics competition. On the same day, students in other schools across the state, across the country and even in other parts of the world, competed in the same contest. very participating school belongs to a league based on geographic locale.
Auburn competes in the New York Mathematics League.
The whole competition involves six contests given over the course of the year starting in October.
Each contest consists of six questions that get progressively more difficult. The last question is intended to challenge the very best math students.
The problems are drawn from a wide range of high school math topics including algebra, geometry and trigonometry. No calculus, however, is required to solve any of the problems.
Students are given 30 minutes to work independently to answer the questions. Students are allowed to use any strategy and may use a calculator to solve the problems, but only the final numerical answer for each question is scored. Each correct answer earns one point. Any number of students from any grade level may participate.
At the end of the contest, the top five scores of students from any grade level are added together to determine the school's score for that contest. At the end of the year, each school's total score for all six contests combined is used to determine a league champion, as well as, regional champions.
Last year, Auburn placed first in the region that includes Cayuga, Jefferson, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego and Tompkins counties.
This year, more than 175 schools from across the state participated in Contest No. 1 in October. Other schools in the central New York area that competed in October include Chittenango, Ithaca, Lansing, Nottingham, Oneida, Oswego and Weedsport.
In that contest, Auburn again started well scoring 22 out of 30 points.
Leading the scoring for Auburn that day were Laura Parisi and Justin Sawran who both scored 5 out of the possible 6 points.
Also contributing to the scoring in Contest No. 1 were Charisse Chehovich, Mary Doyle, Emily Hollander, Erica Querns, Jennifer Sikora, Peter Speck and Alexander Fedigan who each scored 4 points. Magnolia Brazak and Niccolo Lupo were the highest scoring ninth graders scoring 3 points apiece.
Andrew Corbett, an Auburn High School math teacher and department facilitator, thinks, “Math League is an opportunity for students to test their math skills, develop confidence with challenging math questions, be recognized for their accomplishments in math, and it's fun.”
When last month's leading scorers were asked why they participate, Laura responded, “It's just fun. It's competitive,” and Justin said, “I enjoy math and I want to study math in college.”
Indeed, although the contests are part of a competition, many students participate simply to add a little more challenge to their normal academic day.
Are you looking to add a little challenge to your day? Here are the first (easiest) and last (hardest) questions from Tuesday's contest.
Problem 2-1: What is the only negative integer x for which |x + 2| = |x + 4|?
Problem 2-6: Two triangles which are not congruent can actually have five pairs of congruent parts! For example, triangles with side-lengths 8, 12, 18 and 12, 18, 27 have five pairs of congruent parts (two sides and three angles).
If two non-congruent right triangles have five pairs of congruent parts, what is the ratio of the length of the hypotenuse of either triangle to the length of that triangle's shorter leg?
Jeremy Dodds is the Auburn School District subject area supervisor for math
Auburn competes in the New York Mathematics League.
The whole competition involves six contests given over the course of the year starting in October.
Each contest consists of six questions that get progressively more difficult. The last question is intended to challenge the very best math students.
The problems are drawn from a wide range of high school math topics including algebra, geometry and trigonometry. No calculus, however, is required to solve any of the problems.
Students are given 30 minutes to work independently to answer the questions. Students are allowed to use any strategy and may use a calculator to solve the problems, but only the final numerical answer for each question is scored. Each correct answer earns one point. Any number of students from any grade level may participate.
At the end of the contest, the top five scores of students from any grade level are added together to determine the school's score for that contest. At the end of the year, each school's total score for all six contests combined is used to determine a league champion, as well as, regional champions.
Last year, Auburn placed first in the region that includes Cayuga, Jefferson, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego and Tompkins counties.
This year, more than 175 schools from across the state participated in Contest No. 1 in October. Other schools in the central New York area that competed in October include Chittenango, Ithaca, Lansing, Nottingham, Oneida, Oswego and Weedsport.
In that contest, Auburn again started well scoring 22 out of 30 points.
Leading the scoring for Auburn that day were Laura Parisi and Justin Sawran who both scored 5 out of the possible 6 points.
Also contributing to the scoring in Contest No. 1 were Charisse Chehovich, Mary Doyle, Emily Hollander, Erica Querns, Jennifer Sikora, Peter Speck and Alexander Fedigan who each scored 4 points. Magnolia Brazak and Niccolo Lupo were the highest scoring ninth graders scoring 3 points apiece.
Andrew Corbett, an Auburn High School math teacher and department facilitator, thinks, “Math League is an opportunity for students to test their math skills, develop confidence with challenging math questions, be recognized for their accomplishments in math, and it's fun.”
When last month's leading scorers were asked why they participate, Laura responded, “It's just fun. It's competitive,” and Justin said, “I enjoy math and I want to study math in college.”
Indeed, although the contests are part of a competition, many students participate simply to add a little more challenge to their normal academic day.
Are you looking to add a little challenge to your day? Here are the first (easiest) and last (hardest) questions from Tuesday's contest.
Problem 2-1: What is the only negative integer x for which |x + 2| = |x + 4|?
Problem 2-6: Two triangles which are not congruent can actually have five pairs of congruent parts! For example, triangles with side-lengths 8, 12, 18 and 12, 18, 27 have five pairs of congruent parts (two sides and three angles).
If two non-congruent right triangles have five pairs of congruent parts, what is the ratio of the length of the hypotenuse of either triangle to the length of that triangle's shorter leg?
Jeremy Dodds is the Auburn School District subject area supervisor for math
