Highschoolers from across the region flocked to WKU Friday to test their math skills in competition, and the chance to take home a $500 scholarship.
The 4th Annual Math Contest consisted of Scantron or short-answer tests in 15 individual categories and five team categories. Testing began in Gary Ransdell Hall at 10 a.m. and ended at 1 p.m., and an awards ceremony followed in the DSU Auditorium at 3 p.m. Math teams were encouraged to take campus tours, meet with mathematics faculty and eat lunch during their free time. The top student in each division received a scholarship to become a future WKU mathematics major. Students had the opportunity to opt out of the scholarship, passing it down to the next highest ranking student interested in becoming a Hilltopper.
Individual categories comprised advanced topics, algebra equations, algebra simplify, biology, chemistry, complex numbers, functions, geometry, graphing, number set & theory, physical science, physics, probability, trigonometry and word problems. The contest separated some individual categories by grade level.
Team categories consisted of teams of four students divided by grade level. Four students in the same grade could form a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior team, while four students in different grades could form a mixed team.
WKU Professor of Mathematics Dan Clark organized the contest and announced each award.
In each category of competition, 15 students received medallions: the top five students from the small, medium and large school divisions.
Carson Carroll from Rossview High School in Clarksville, Tennessee, placed highest individually in the large school division. He also placed in the algebra, graphing, geometry and word problems categories. He began competing in mathematics in sixth grade.
Carson and his teammates studied for the contest during their hour-long drive to WKU, but said that there were no specific study materials provided by the university.
“It’s just past experience more than specific study,” Carson said.
The Rossview Math Team is a chapter of Mu Alpha Theta, a high school and two-year college mathematics honor society. The team has competed at other university competitions, including Austin Peay State University.
The awards ceremony was preceded by a lecture by Bruce Kessler, a professor of mathematics and data integration specialist with LifeSkills. Kessler’s lecture, titled “A Very Finite Amount of Infinite,” discussed how finite whole number values that are added or multiplied infinitely can sometimes lead to a finite answer.
“Anytime I talk to students about math, I want to talk about stuff you’ve not necessarily heard in the classroom,” Kessler said. “And so this is the perfect time to tell you that your teachers, not maliciously, but they have perhaps left out some important details about numbers.”
Kessler garnered engagement from the crowd when he asked them to answer questions through a projected QR Code.
The first question asked students to pick one of three choices: 0.9 repeating > 1, 0.9 repeating = 1 or 0.9 repeating < 1. The correct answer was the second choice.
After one question, Kessler asked, “How’s your brain?”
An audience member responded, “It hurts.”
