March 10, 2009

State 'mathletes' hope to divide and conquer

MATHCOUNTS is a national nonprofit competition that promotes achievement in mathematics. The event will take place from 9 a.m. to noon in Stewart Center, Room 218. The final round will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Class of 1950 Lecture Hall, Room 224, and will conclude with an awards ceremony at about 2:30 p.m. The afternoon events are free and open to the public.

The top four state "mathletes" and coach of the winning team will earn the right to represent Indiana at the national competition, which will take place May 7-10 at Walt Disney World in Orlando. Indiana finished second nationally in 2007 and fifth in 2008.

"Since about 1990, Indiana has always finished in the top 15 nationally," said Vincent Drnevich, professor of civil engineering and regional competition co-director. "We have some really bright students this year, so we expect another strong showing."

Participating schools include:

* East Tipp Middle School, Lafayette

* Joseph F. Tuttle Middle School, Crawfordsville

* Klondike Middle School, West Lafayette

* Lebanon Middle School, Lebanon

* West Lafayette Junior/Senior High School, West Lafayette

* Zionsville Middle School, Zionsville

* Zionsville West Middle School, Zionsville

"MATHCOUNTS is like the mathematical equivalent of March Madness," said Jerry Woodward, mathematics K-12 outreach coordinator and regional competition co-director. "The countdown round is a fast-moving event in which the top students from the morning competition respond to questions projected onto a screen. They usually know the answers even before the questions are read."

Purdue's College of Engineering and College of Science and the I-STEM Resource Network sponsor and organize this event. Additional sponsors include Raytheon Co. and Indiana Beach.

For more information about MATHCOUNTS, contact Drnevich at (765) 494-5029, drnevich@purdue.edu, or Woodward at (765) 494-9578, jwoodwar@purdue.edu. 

Writer: Marydell Forbes, 765-496-7704, mforbes@purdue.edu

Sources:   Vincent Drnevich, 765-494-5029, drnevich@purdue.edu

Jerry Woodward, 765-494-9578, jwoodwar@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: The media are invited to cover the team and countdown rounds. To make arrangements, contact Marydell Forbes, Purdue News Service, at (765) 496-7704, mforbes@purdue.edu

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