Math@Mac makes math fun

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December 5, 2007

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/math-contest-winners.jpg” caption=”Winners of the Math@Mac competition from St. Mary’s Catholic Secondary School in Hamilton with Karen Kokoski, head of mathematics. Photo courtesy of Caroline Burgess.”]McMaster's Department of Mathematics & Statistics held its second annual Math@Mac online mathematics competition for high school students on Thursday, Nov. 29.

More than 1,300 high school mathematics teams registered and participated in the online competition. Many teams completed the test in under one hour. The winning teams answered the most questions correctly in the least amount of time.

The top 10 teams were awarded $100 each. The top three teams were from St. Mary's Catholic Secondary School in Hamilton.

Working in teams encourages collaboration skills, which are essential to any scientific work. Some students chose to work alone, but the majority collaborated in teams of two, for a total of more than 2,000 students.

“This is a great opportunity for high school students to participate in a university-hosted program, and yet not have to leave their school,” said Alison Sills, associate dean of studies for the Faculty of Science. “Students who might not normally identify themselves as gifted in math discover that problem solving can be rewarding and a lot of fun.”

The questions are different every year, but the format is consistent. The competition consists of 10 questions aimed at high school students from Grades 9 to 12. The questions are designed to engage students who enjoy problem solving in mathematics.

“The competition is designed to be inclusive and fun, and is carried out entirely online to increase flexibility and broader participation,” said Bradd Hart, professor and Chair of the Department of Mathematics & Statistics.

Caroline Burgess, outreach coordinator, added, “In only its second year, participation in this contest has tripled. We have reached many more schools and more students per school, which was our goal. Last year, participation was mainly restricted to the Hamilton-Halton region. This year, in addition to participation from schools across Ontario, we had teams from Western Canada, St. Lucia and even Macedonia.”