Would You Finish Your Math Homework for $500? 230 Central Indiana Students Competed for Cash Prizes

INDIANAPOLIS – The IUPUI High School Mathematics Contest awarded more than $5,000 in prizes to 34 central Indiana high school students who completed problems created by college professors.

“While the contest solutions only require the use of high school algebra or geometry, the problems are much more sophisticated than typical textbook questions. Our faculty are always pleased at the number of students who accept the challenge the contest offers and impressed at the originality that is evident in their answers,” said Carl Cowen, dean of the School of Science at IUPUI.

This year, 230 students from 12 different high schools participated, but only one school was awarded the traveling trophy and $500 for its mathematics department – Carmel High School. Fifteen of Carmel’s 17 entrants won an honorable mention or better. The student winner of this year’s contest, Xingping Shen, is a sophomore at Carmel and also was awarded $500. Shen won the 2005 contest as a freshman.

The students who win the math contest display a vast range of talents, according to Richard Patterson, contest chairman and IUPUI associate professor emeritus of mathematics.

“These students define well-rounded,” he said. “They’ve received prizes for exemplary work in French and chemistry, robotics and lacrosse, debate and medieval history, as well as music. Clarinet, piano, oboe and cello – the winners of the IUPUI math contest could form their own orchestra.”

The ninth annual contest was open to all high school students (grades 9-12) in the 15-county area of central Indiana. Students had to answer four mathematics problems and one short essay relating to an application of mathematics to aviation. All entries were judged by professors in the IUPUI Department of Mathematical Sciences at the School of Science.

Student submissions were judged based on elegance of the solution as well as accuracy of the answer. Prizes included one first place prize of $500; five second place prizes of $300 each and 10 third place prizes of $150 each. Honorable mentions received a gift, and all entrants received a certificate. In addition to Carmel High School, two additional top participating schools, Brownsburg and Hamilton Southeastern, received $500 each.

For additional information, go to www.math.iupui.edu/news/contest/.

About School of Science at IUPUI
The School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis offers innovative degree programs – from associate to Ph.D. – that prepare students with the scientific knowledge to evaluate new discoveries and to make informed decisions that benefit society. Students have many degree choices to match their academic and career goals, including programs in biology, chemistry, computer and information science, forensic and investigative sciences, geology, environmental science, mathematics, physics and psychology.