MATHCOUNTS Regional Contest

is a national program conducted by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), consisting of a series of mathematical contests for 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade

students. The contests progress from competitions within middle schools to regional events to state events to the

national competition. The regional contests are held in February, the state contests in March, and the national competition in May. The oral-response portion of the national competition is webcast live on mathcounts.org and subsequently archived at mathcounts.org/webcasts. As stated in the MATHCOUNTS website, "The mission of MATHCOUNTS is to increase enthusiasm for and enhance achievement in middle school mathema- tics throughout the United States."   The SBU Department of Mathematics hosts the Chautauqua/Cattaraugus Regional Contest. The coordinator of our contest is Dr. Doug Cashing.

Sponsorship

Locally the contest is financially supported by St. Bonaventure University and an anonymous grant. The national contest is sponsored by the CNA Foundation, ConcoPhillips, US Department of Defense, Northrup Grumman Foundation, Raytheon Company, Texas Instruments, 3M Foundation, ThinkFun, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

The 2013 MATHCOUNTS Chautauqua/Cattaraugus Regional Contest

SBU hosted its 2012 MATHCOUNTS regional contest on Saturday, February 2. The two schools competing were Allegany-Limestone Middle School (coach Kathy Stamets) and Cheektowaga Central School (coach David Guzzino). 

The top three individuals and the top three school teams received trophies. In addition, the top three teams have been invited to the New York State competition to be held on March 16 at the R.P.I. campus in Troy. The top individuals from the state contest will advance to the national competition to be held May 10 in Washington, D.C.

Previous MATHCOUNTS regional contests (participating schools and winners)

The student organizers for the 2013 contest were Margaret Atherton, Amrita Maniram, Esther St. Cloud, Rebecca Tallman, and Steven Zimmer. These students were invaluable assistants to Dr. Cashing in the planning and execution of MATHCOUNTS. Thank you!

Inside a MATHCOUNTS Regional Contest

Each participating middle school sends four students and a coach to the contest, the coach being a teacher who has helped prepare the students for competition. Each school may also send one or more alternates, who would compete if any of the school's official entrants were unable to participate.

A regional contest is divided into a morning session and an afternoon session. The morning session is comprised of three rounds of written questions: the Sprint Round, the Target Round, and the Team Round. At. St. Bonaventure, the morning rounds are held in classrooms in De La Roche Hall. During the Sprint Round and the Target Round, students work individually. The Sprint Round lasts 40 minutes and consist of 30 problems, which students must solve without a calculator. The Target Round lasts about 30 minutes and consists of eight problems presented to students in four pairs. Students may use calculators during this round. The photo below shows students working diligently during the Target Round.

During the 20-minute Team Round, the four students from each school collaborate on a set of ten problems, as seen in the photo to the left. Calculators may be used during this round.

The afternoon session is dedicated to the Countdown Round, in which the top individuals (based on scores in the Sprint and Target Rounds) engage in verbal-response, head-to-head competitions. The use of calculators is not permitted. St. Bonaventure holds this round in the Walsh Science Center amphitheater. In the photo below, Dr. Doug Cashing briefs the participants about the rules of the Countdown Round.

The next photo captures a quiet but tense moment during the Countdown Round. Two competitors (foreground) concentrate on the mathematics problem shown on the screen, while families, coaches, and the rest of the participants look on. The two students have

45 seconds to answer. When a competitor thinks he has the answer, he raises his hand and then states his solution. If his answer is incorrect or of he takes too long to begin speaking, the other student has the remainder of the 45 seconds to answer.

The three highest-ranking individuals from the morning session, the three highest-ranking teams from the Team Round, and the top individual from the Countdown Round receive trophies during the award ceremony.

The following three problems, taken from the 2004-2005 MATHCOUNTS School Handbook, are indicative of the problems posed in the regional competitions.

• The time is 4:40 p.m. What is the degree measure of the smallest angle formed by the minute hand and the hour hand?
• Rewrite the expression  a/b + c/d + e/f  such that each variable is replaced by a different nonzero digit and the value of the expression is 1. (The answer may not be unique.)
• Using the sides of the 64 unit squares of a standard chessboard, how many non-congruent rectangles can be formed?

For more information...

....about SBU's regional contest, contact its coordinator, Dr. Doug Cashing. Further information about the MATHCOUNTS program may be found at the MATHCOUNTS website.