Mathcounts

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MathCounts logo.
MathCounts logo.

MATHCOUNTS is a middle school math competition held in the United States. Its founding sponsors include the CNA Foundation, the National Society of Professional Engineers, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.[1] The competition is designed for sixth, seventh and eighth graders.

The subject matter includes geometry, combinatorics, and algebra.[2] Although they are included in some of the aforementioned subjects, complex numbers, calculus, and trigonometry are not featured in the contest because these subjects are considered in general to be more advanced than middle-school mathematics. Instead, the contest emphasizes problem solving skill within traditional middle-school mathematics.[3]

Contents

[edit] Competition levels

A trophy from a State Mathcounts competition
A trophy from a State Mathcounts competition

The competition is divided into four levels: school, chapter, state, and national. In general, the problems become harder as one progresses towards nationals. The school round is optional and does not have to be used to determine the team sent from each school. Each school is allowed to send one team of four students which compete in both team and individual, plus four students which compete in only individuals, to the chapter competition. Individuals' scores are not credited towards their teams, even if they score better than first-string teammates. However, they are eligible to win individually.[4]

High-ranking students and teams from each chapter competition progress to the state-level competition. The exact number of qualifiers varies from chapter to chapter. At the state level, the top four individuals progress to nationals as a single team representing the state. When a school wins the best team award, the coach of that school is named the coach of the state team. As a result, a state team is typically comprised of students from different schools.[5]

[edit] Structure

The standard MATHCOUNTS competition contains four rounds: Sprint, Target, Team, and Countdown. At the national and some state competitions, the top four contestants, determined by the Countdown Round, participate in the Masters Round. Some state competitions add extra rounds, such as the Cipher round.[6]

[edit] Sprint Round

In the Sprint Round, contestants solve a written exam consisting of 30 problems with a time limit of 40 minutes. There are no penalties for incorrect answers. Calculators are not permitted, and contestants work individually.[7]

Questions in the Sprint Round are usually the easiest problems in the written individual contests because the Sprint Round tests contestants' ability to solve problems within a tight time constraint. Sprint round questions are worth one point each.[8]

[edit] Target Round

The Target Round contains four two-problem mini-examinations, for which six minutes are allowed per pair. The problems in the Target Round are usually more difficult than most of the problems in the Sprint Round. They are worth two points. Calculators are permitted, and contestants work individually.[7]

[edit] Team Round

The Team Round is a ten question exam for which twenty minutes are allotted. Calculators are allowed, and four teammates take the examination as a group. In this round, contestants are allowed to discuss the problems. These problems are typically more difficult than the individual round problems, so that it would be difficult for a single contestant to solve all of them alone within the available time.[7]

[edit] Countdown Round

The national Countdown round, with Kevin Chen and Ben Kraft at the competitors' podiums.
The national Countdown round, with Kevin Chen and Ben Kraft at the competitors' podiums.

The Countdown Round is a fast-paced head-to-head competition, and is the final round used in determining individual rankings. It is the only oral round. The Countdown Round is an optional round. At some competitions (i.e. most states and nationals) , this round is used for determining the winners. Otherwise, this round is a for-fun round, when only trophies are awarded (at most chapter competitions). Calculators are not allowed in the Countdown Round.[7]

At the national level, in 1987, the Countdown Round pitted all ten contestants against each other. The first six to ring in first with a correct answer advanced to the next sub-round, after which the first three to ring in with a correct answer advanced to the final round. The top three contestants then went head-to-head. Written competition trophies were given out separate from Countdown Round medals (the official winners) before the ladder style competition.[4]

From 1988 to 2003, the Countdown Round was a head-to-head ladder-style competition. The tenth and ninth place finishers on the written portion competed against each other; the winner then became ninth place and competed against the eight finisher, and so on. It is from this pattern of tenth, ninth, eighth, seventh, etc. that the name "Countdown" was derived. It was possible for a contestant who placed tenth on the written part of the competition to become first through winning nine consecutive matches, but no contestant could place more than one rank below his or her rank before the Countdown Round.[4]

Beginning in 2004, the format of the Countdown Round at the national competition changed to a weighted single elimination bracket. The top twelve scorers on the written portion advance to the Countdown Round. In the first round, the top four scorers on the written portion received a bye into the second round leaving fifth place to face off against twelfth place, sixth place to face off against eleventh place, etc. This change was presumably made in hopes of making this final round more exciting and more suspenseful, since now the champion must win four consecutive matches (three if they received a first-round bye), as opposed to previous years when a student could potentially win the championship after defeating a single opponent.[9]

Forty-five seconds are allotted per problem and no calculator may be used. However, the problem will only be scored by the first participant to correctly answer it, and therefore it is essential for participants to work quickly. For the earlier rounds, each match consists of five problems; if there is a tie (2-2, 1-1, or 0-0) further problems are given and a sudden victory rule is imposed to resolve it. In later rounds, the match ends when either contestant answers four problems correctly.[10]

At the state and chapter levels, the Countdown Round may or may not be held. If it is held, it may or may not be official; some chapter and state competitions choose to hold a countdown round as a separate competition that does not affect the final rankings of competitors. If a countdown round is official at the state level, it must be a ladder-style tournament. Single-elimination tournaments are common, especially at the state level. The National Countdown Round was regularly televised on ESPN from 2003 to 2005.[11]

[edit] Masters Round

At the national level and in some states, there is an additional round known as the Masters Round, open only to the top four contestants. Participants are given thirty minutes to develop a fifteen minute oral presentation based upon an advanced mathematical topic, not known to them until thirty minutes before their presentations. While an award is given for the best presentation decided by a panel of judges at the Nationals level, the Masters Round does not affect participants' rankings. The Masters Round in national competition consists of the top 2 written round competitors and the top 2 competitors after the Countdown Round.[7]

[edit] CountDown Round

In some states (Florida most notably), and at both the chapter and state levels, there is a ciphering round. In this round, which does not count for overall individual or team scores, each school sends one representative up. A problem is then flashed up on a projector screen, and competitors, working individually, have one minute to answer. No calculators are allowed. Using a buzzer system, the judges then determine the order of answering. The first person to answer correctly earns his/her school five points, the second person four points, etc. After four questions, each school switches their representative. The process is repeated four times so that each team member has a chance to compete in a round. The team winner of this round is the school with the most points. This round is mainly a fun, fast-paced round where speed is vital. Due to the fact that no calculators are allowed, competitors must be able to do calculations quickly and mentally.[7]

[edit] Math Relay

This round is only held during the "State" competition for Mexico, whose participants are students from ASOMEX (American Schools of Mexico Association) Schools students, held every year in the American School of Puebla in Puebla, Mexico. This round was originally created by Alicia Ehlinger, an outstanding teacher at the American School of Puebla, and other teachers from American Schools in Mexico. Students are placed at the end of an average basketball or soccer court or field, with a length of 21 meters. Students have to run, while they're timed, to the other side of the court, where a table is placed so that they solve a mathematical operation as quick as they can, run back to where their team is and allow another student to run. Each school team is made of 8 students. The criteria of ranking is the following: 2 points are given to the team that has the least time; the team with the highest number of correct is the winner; in case of tie, time is used as a tiebreaker. This round does not affect individual or team scores, and it is only used to encourage healthy competition and physical activity, as well as to practice solving math operations within a very short time.[12]

[edit] Scholarships

Cash scholarships are awarded to high ranking students at the national competition and many universities give scholarships including full tuition to winners at the state level.[13] Some of MATHCOUNTS' other sponsors, such as Texas Instruments, General Motors, and Lockheed Martin also provide scholarships.[14]

Qualification for MATHCOUNTS scholarships usually vary by state, but scholarships and prizes are usually awarded to the top ten individuals and the top three state teams at the national level.[15] As MATHCOUNTS promotes itself as a math coaching program, Raytheon offers scholarships to undergraduate students who volunteer as coaches for MATHCOUNTS teams.[13]

Every student and coach who participates in the national competition receives a free graphing calculator, donated by sponsor Texas Instruments; in 2004, the prize was a TI-83 Plus Silver Edition. In the past, TI-81s, TI-82s, TI-85s, TI-89s, and TI-92s have been distributed. The 2005, 2006, and 2007 prizes were TI-84 Plus Silver Editions.[6] In 2008, the MATHCOUNTS prize was a TI-nSpire calculator.

[edit] Scoring and ranking

[edit] Individual score

Each contestant's individual score is his or her Sprint Round score (out of 30) plus twice his or her Target Round score (out of 8), so that a perfect score is 46. Many years, perfect scores do not occur due to the varying difficulty of the problems from year to year. For example, in the 1996 National competition, the highest score was a 38, and a score of 33 sufficed for placement in the top ten and qualification for the Countdown Round. In the 2005 Nationals, the highest score was a 39, and a score of 30 sufficed for placement in the top twelve, qualifying for the Countdown Round. At the 2008 National Competition, the highest score was a 43, and a score of 37 sufficed for top twelve placement.

At Chapter and State levels, ranking is determined by raw individual score. Ties are broken by comparing performance on the last ten questions on the Sprint Round. If contestants are still tied, individual pre-selected problems are used to break ties.

At the National Competition, ranking on the written portion is used to determine seeding in the Countdown round. The final place is determined by performance in the countdown round.[16]

[edit] Team score

A team's score is equal to one-fourth the sum of its members' individual scores (even if the team has fewer than four members) plus twice the number of questions it answered correctly on the team round. A perfect team score is 46.0 + (2 \cdot 10) = 66.0.[16]

[edit] History

Mathcounts was started in 1982 by the National Society of Professional Engineers, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and CNA Foundation as a competitive environment to increase middle school interest in mathematics.[17] The first national-level competition in the modern format was held in 1984. Before 2002, every national Mathcounts competition was held in Washington, D.C.[18] The rules gradually evolved throughout its history, especially in the Countdown round.[4] It spread quickly in middle schools, and is the most well-known middle school mathematics competition, and arguably the most well known mathematics competition in the world. [19]

[edit] Results of recent competitions

Main article: List of winners of the Mathcounts competition

The champion of the 2005 MATHCOUNTS National Competition was Neal Wu of Louisiana, which was remarkable, since he was a seventh-grader at the time as well as being seeded ninth. The runner-up was Mark Zhang from the Texas team. Sergei Bernstein from Massachusetts won the written round as well as the Master's Round. Texas won first place in the team competition, although Indiana had three participants in the Countdown Round. Despite having the national champion, the Louisiana team placed 13th. The award for Most Improved team, comparing the current year's rank to the average of rankings from the past ten years was Oklahoma which placed 6th in the national competition under coach Dan Beaty. Two of the top four students were girls (Patricia Li of California and Karlanna Lewis of Florida) for the first time in the history of the national competition.[20]

The champion of the 2006 MATHCOUNTS National Competition was Daesun Yim of New Jersey, and the runner up was Andrew Ardito of New York, respectively ranking 5th and 10th in the written round. The nationals team winner was Virginia (seventeenth last year), and second and third place went to Washington (fifteenth) and Indiana (second) respectively. The winning team from last year, Texas, got fourth, and California (third last year) got tenth. The Most Improved team was South Carolina, which went from 56th place to 16th place under coach John Rushman. The winner of the Spirit award was Wyoming. The Spirit Stick was presented to the Wyoming team by the New Hampshire team (last year's Spirit award winner). The written round winner was last year's champion, Neal Wu. The written round runner-up was Daniel Li of VA, who also won the Masters Round. The highest placing seventh grader this year was Kevin Chen, from Texas, who placed third after the written round and made it to the semi-finals in the Countdown Round.[21]

President George W. Bush meets award recipients of the 2005 MATHCOUNTS National Competition in the Oval Office Thursday, May 12, 2005.
President George W. Bush meets award recipients of the 2005 MATHCOUNTS National Competition in the Oval Office Thursday, May 12, 2005.

The champion of the Masters Round and the 2007 MATHCOUNTS National Champion, was Kevin Y. Chen of Sugar Land, Texas. He was seeded 3rd in the written round. [22] Ben Kraft of Pennsylvania (seeded 5th) was the runner-up.[23] Justin Ahmann from Indiana was the top 7th grader and was 1st in the written round, followed by Allen Yuan of Michigan, while Bobby Shen of Sugar Land, Texas was the top 6th grader (13th). [24] Texas won the team competition as well. The most improved team went to Nevada and the Spirit Award went to Pennsylvania, whose team cheer was a parody of "Weird Al" Yankovic's "White and Nerdy."[25]

Kevin Chen appeared on Live with Regis & Kelly on the May 30, 2007 show.[26] After visiting the "Live with Regis and Kelly" show in May, Kevin was nominated for an annual Relly award. On Friday, September 21st, Kevin took home the Relly award for Best Junior Achiever after receiving the most votes from viewers.

6th grader Darryl Wu of Washington won the 2008 national championship. Darryl was seeded third in the Written Round. Darryl Wu appeared on the talk show "Live with Regis and Kelly" on May 16th, 2008. Bobby Shen of Sugar Land, Texas won 2nd place (Bobby was also the 2008 Written Round Winner and Master's Round Winner). The Written Round Runner-up was Jason Hyun, a seventh grader from Maryland. Anderson Wang of Pennsylvania and Evan Miller of Kentucky were the semifinalists in the countdown round. Despite Maryland having three students in the top five in the Written Round, they were only placed 3rd in team round. Once again, Texas won team national championship. This is the third title for Texas during last four years, all were led by Coach Jeff Boyd of Sugar Land, Texas. The most improved team was South Dakota, and the Spirit Award went to New York, whose cheer was a variation of "New York" in the movie Madagascar. [27]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Wyoming Society of Professional Engineers.
  2. ^ Raytheon Takes on New Assignment: Helping Kids Make the Grade in Math and Science.
  3. ^ MATHCOUNTS at the Art of Problem Solving.
  4. ^ a b c d MATHCOUNTS levels page.
  5. ^ MATHCOUNTS.
  6. ^ a b Everything2 - MathCounts.
  7. ^ a b c d e f MATHCOUNTS > Coaches > Competition Components.
  8. ^ Online Tutoring - Mathcounts description.
  9. ^ University of California - Two schools will represent Orange County in a state math competition to be held in March at UC Irvine.
  10. ^ Summit Middle School MATHCOUNTS.
  11. ^ MATHCOUNTS Competition Levels - Coaches guide.
  12. ^ MATHCOUNTS competition in Puebla.
  13. ^ a b Minnesota MATHCOUNTS. Retrieved on 2008-01-01.
  14. ^ Sponsors. Retrieved on 2008-01-01.
  15. ^ Smart Catalogue - MATHCOUNTS.
  16. ^ a b ND Mathcounts.
  17. ^ Piedmont Mathcounts.
  18. ^ General Motors Renews as National Sponsor of MATHCOUNTS.
  19. ^ Yale MATHCOUNTS.
  20. ^ MATHCOUNTS 2005.
  21. ^ New Jersey MATHCOUNTS.
  22. ^ Lockheed Martin MATHCOUNTS National Competition - 2007 (PDF).
  23. ^ Sugar Land's Kevin Chen and Bobby Shen Led Texas Students Won 2007 MATHCOUNTS National Champions!.
  24. ^ List of Top Students and Teams in 2007 National Mathcounts.
  25. ^ MATHCOUNTS > Competition Information > National Competition Information. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
  26. ^ Live with Regis & Kelly Guest Information. Disney Enterprises (2007-05-30). Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  27. ^ Lockheed Martin MATHCOUNTS National Competition - 2008. Mathcounts (09-05-08). Retrieved on 11-05-08.

[edit] External links

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