UNL Math Day 2009
by Cal Stuhmer
November 17, 2009
On November 12th ten mathletes left Sutton before 6:30 am to participate in the 20th Annual UNL Math Day. These dedicated few included Seniors Kayla Korb and Andrea Ochsner Juniors Trey Brown, Lacey Huber, and Lauren Simonsen, Sophomores Michael Cox, Kelli Green, Megan Korb, Sydney Olson, and Shelby Overturf. They joined over 1300 students from 100 schools in the competition.
The PROBE test (Problems Requiring Original Brilliant Effort) was first on the agenda. The top three scores are entered as our team score. Our top three were Michael Cox, Shelby Overturf, and tied for third Kayla Korb and Lacey Huber. Our score of 108 placed us 18th out of 24 class C schools.
The second part of the contest is a three person math bowl team which competes head to head with other math bowl teams. Our Math Bowl Team (Michael Cox, Andrea Ochsner, and Trey Brown) lost to East Butler 4 - 2 in the first round. After that round the pep band members left for the state volleyball game which just left Andrea and Michael to carry on. Since this was the 20th Annual Competition, UNL with help from the American Mathematics Society staged a special “Who Wants To Be A Mathematician” competition. The eight top students competed for cash and prizes. We watched as Albert Zhou from Lincoln Southwest won $3000 in an exciting contest. So now with only two contestants left on our math bowl team, we took on Southwest High School but lost.
All these competitions are done without a calculator. Can you answer these in less than 30 seconds?
Write the 5th prime number in base seven.
Find the maximum value of f(x) where f(x) = -x2 + 16 x +30
Find the geometric mean between 9 and 16
Next up for the senior high mathletes are the AMC10 and AMC 12 contests which will be held in February of 2010.
The Top Ten Reasons for attending Math Day
10. Everyone enjoys a day that starts way before sunrise.
9. There is nothing better than riding in a big yellow bus from Sutton to Lincoln.
8. 60 minutes – 25 questions – no calculators.
7. Finding out you scored the highest of the Sutton mathletes.
6. Finding out you didn’t score lowest of the Sutton mathletes.
5. Finding out that cafeteria food at UNL is not that bad.
4. Getting a question right in the math bowl round.
3. Getting out of school while everyone else is still there. (Whoops no one had to go to school.)
2. Watching someone win $3000 just for answering math questions.
1. Everyone calls you a MATHLETE!
