Students compete, place third in state math competition

Dr. Lalit Kishore, a self-employed consultant and former professor at several world universities said, “Applied mathematics is able to break the abstract image of mathematics by establishing its utility in life, livelihood, professional development, and other areas of study.”

To further their abilities in applied mathematics, a group of students from LRHS competed in the Washington State Math Council (WSMC) state competition on Saturday, April 23, at Central Washington University.

About 50 schools and 600 students competed in March’s regional competition, and about one-third advanced to the state competition. MicKayla Hall and Brianna Kin Kade, as well as a team composed of Peyton Curtis, Raeann Hoeft, Erica Leffel, and Emma Aldrich, qualified from regionals to state.

Curtis, Hoeft, Leffel and Aldrich placed third in state for their work on the team project. While Hall and Kin Kade benefited from the experience, they did not place in state.

The WSMC hosts the annual competition for high school students across the state.

Through the high school competition and other coordinated efforts, “WSMC promotes high professional standards and serves as a communication network for anyone interested in mathematics education.”

The WSMC high school competition consists of four main contests: the Topical Problems Event is a multiple-choice test for individuals. The Team Problem Event is a multi-step, single topic problem worked on by a team of students over the course of an hour.

The Mathematical Knowdown Event is a single elimination tournament in which students provide quick answers under pressure. Hall and Kin Kade participated in the Topical and Team Problem Events.

The remaining contest, the Team Project Event, which Curtis, Hoeft, Leffel, and Aldrich placed in, confronts teams with a problem facing society that they should use applied mathematics over several months to solve.

Then, teams explain their findings through a report, display and presentation.

Mark Roddy, PhD, is an Associate Professor at Seattle University and has been involved with the WSMC since 1988.

He explained, “One of the things I like about this contest is that it has so many ways to be involved… Each one takes a different sort of approach.”

The central questions for this year’s team project was “What are the characteristics, conditions and results that are associated with Washington state high schools that serve the children of the poor versus high schools that serve the children of those who are not poor?”

Roddy said, “One of the challenges in the Team Project and something that makes it different from a typical school math problem is that it involves more problem definition than is usual in school mathematics.”

“You aren’t given a problem and told to solve for x; you are given a complex situation, often rooted in some sort of social context, and you have to define what x is for yourself.”

Roddy added, “That can be challenging for students who are used to having problems that are more confined and that have one right answer.”

LRHS competed against larger Division 1 schools in the team project, falling to Curtis Senior High School in first place, and Bellingham High School in second place.

“I think the hardest part was trying to explain all of our information in the allotted five minutes that we had to present,” Curtis explained. “I am super proud of our accomplishment. It shows what a little hard work and effort can do!”

Hall added, “I’m proud of my accomplishments at state because my partner and I tried our best and had fun doing it.”

The benefits of furthering their skills in applied mathematics will extend far past WSMC’s state competition.

Roddy concluded, “In the end, they get a chance to take some time to stand back, consider a complex problem, and then use mathematics strategically to make sense of some aspect of the world they live in. I hope that students get a different view of mathematics this way.”