Would You Finish Your Math Homework for $2,500?
The IUPUI High School Mathematics Contest awarded thousands of dollars in scholarships to 16 central Indiana high school students who completed problems created by college professors.
"While the contest solutions only require the use of high school algebra or geometry, the problems are much more sophisticated than typical textbook questions. Our faculty are always pleased at the number of students who accept the challenge the contest offers and are impressed at the originality that is evident in their answers," said Bart Ng, acting dean of the School of Science at IUPUI.
This year, 450 students from nine different high schools participated in the contest, but only one school was awarded the traveling trophy—Carmel High School. Two students from Carmel tied for first place.
Michael Luo is a freshman who provided an elegant solution to a geometry problem. He also wrote an interesting essay on the subject of communicating information to and from a spaceship or satellite. Data must be compressed for speed and efficiency but also have built-in redundancy for error checking and correction. This year's math contest theme was "Mathematics and Space Exploration."
Sophomore Reid Watson joined Luo on the first place podium. In his essay, Watson explored how classical mathematics and physics, based on Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation, is now being used to compute the gravitational pull of planets on a spacecraft so that it can be guided to its goal. Watson plays the cello, likes computer science and thinks that he might pursue a career in neurology.
The students who participate in the math contest display a vast range of talents, according to Richard Patterson, contest chairman and IUPUI associate professor emeritus of mathematics.
"These students define well-rounded," he said. "They've received prizes for exemplary work in Japanese and history, every sport from gymnastics to skiing to rock climbing, as well as music. Viola, piano, clarinet and snare drums—the winners of the IUPUI math contest could form their own orchestra."
Two juniors from Hamilton Southeastern High School tied for second place—Jared Salisbury and Kristin Shaffer.
The 11th annual contest was open to all high school students (grades 9-12) in the 15-county area of central Indiana. Students had to answer four mathematics problems and one short essay relating to an application of mathematics to space exploration. Professors of the IUPUI Department of Mathematical Sciences in the School of Science judge all the entries.
Student submissions were judged based on elegance of the solution as well as accuracy of the answer. Prizes included 16 $2,500 renewable scholarships to the School of Science at IUPUI. Honorable mentions received a gift, and all entrants received a certificate.
The contest awarded a $250 prize each to mathematics departments in Carmel, Hamilton Southeastern, Brownsburg and Fishers high schools.
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