Students have field day at math event

Quick: If the probability of having pizza is three out of five and the probability of having a pep rally is one out of eight, what is the probability of having no pep rally and no pizza?

There was only one place in Cape Girardeau Tuesday where that question wouldn't have drawn blank stares.

Math Field Day.

That was the event held Tuesday at Southeast Missouri State University, where roughly 700 math whizzes from 29 area junior and senior high schools competed in individual and team events that to most people would have looked like a long day of difficult math tests.

These students, the top math students from their schools, are clearly the exception in a math-hating world.

"I love math. It's challenging and I like things that challenge me," said Brandon Bueter, 17, a student at Leopold High School. "It's my favorite subject."

Then he added: "Really."

In the morning, students took individual tests in categories like algebra, geometry, trigonometry, word problems, history of math, sets and logic, exponential and log functions. ...

You get the idea. It was hard.

Which was confirmed by Randy Cates, a 16-year-old from Doniphan, Mo., who said his tests included questions on airplane speed and variables.

"The first one I took was really hard," he said. "The second one was medium. But I guess I did OK."

'How'd you get that?'

In the afternoon was a problem-solving event called Mathletics, where each high school had a team of four students who could work on problems together after they were presented on an overhead projector. They had one to three minutes to work on the problems.

After the problem was presented, students mainly whispered among themselves, clicking buttons on calculators -- yes, permissible -- and sometimes debating about the answer.

"Dude, you're crazy," whispered one.

"Huh?" was the reply from another table. "How'd you get that?"

After each question, papers were collected and answers revealed when the coordinator pulled a Post-It off the paper on the projector. Each time, there were a mix of reactions, from "Yes!" and high-fives to "Awww ..." and -- in one case -- "See, man!"

The event was sponsored by Southeast's Department of Mathematics and the Southeast Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Teachers who oversaw the event said it was beneficial for students to compete in math, just as much as it is for them to compete in sports.

"It allows them to work together," said Carole DelVecchio, a math teacher at Oak Ridge. "It also helps their self-esteem in something that is sometimes consider nerdy."

Emily Bira, a 16-year-old Notre Dame student, said she's not one of those who just loves to do math, though she makes A's in it. But she said Math Field Day was beneficial.

"It showed me there was so many more areas of math than I even knew about," she said. "It's been a good experience."

By the way, the probability of having no pep rally and no pizza is seven out of 20.

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137