MATH FIELD DAY: 750 AREA STUDENTS IN COMPETITION AT SOUTHEAST

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- More than 750 students participated Tuesday in Southeast Missouri State University's 14th annual Math Field Day.

Students from 38 schools participated in the competition, which featured 26 individual events, five team events and one problem-solving event.

Jackson High School took first place in problem solving and South Pemiscot took second.

Individual first-place winners were: Deborah Chung, Central High School, exponential and logarithmic functions; Jeff Maurer, Notre Dame High School, trigometric functions; Derek Chong, Central, analytic geometry; and Chris Bucher, Notre Dame, number bases.

Other area first-place winners were: Jason Greene and Keith Johnson, both of Central, probability; Daniel Hilty, Central, history of math; and Robert Dodson, Notre Dame, algebra.

First-place winners in the team competition were: New Madrid County Central, algebra I; South Pemiscot, algebra II and geometry; Sikeston Senior High School, trigonometry; and Fredericktown in the medley competition.

"We feel like Math Field Day is a good opportunity for junior-high and high-school students to see how well they are doing in their mathematics classes," said Dr. James Bruening, Southeast assistant professor of mathematics.

The competition tests junior-high and high-school students' knowledge in several math disciplines.

Math Field Day is co-sponsored by the Southeast Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the university math department.