Celebrating brainpower at Math Field Day

Nearly 700 students from 28 junior and senior high schools around the region, including Illinois, assembled last week for the Math Field Day at the Show Me Center.

In its 37th year, the turnout was higher this year than the last couple of years. Educators hope the event provides a way for the students to have fun in a competitive environment and measure where their math programs stack up with others in the region.

An organizer pointed out in a story that athletics often overshadows the academics, so this event helps draw attention to outstanding math students in the area.

The event tackled algebra, geometry, trigonometry, word problems, sets and logic; exponential and log functions; matrices and determinants; computational mathematics, elementary data analysis, probability, mental arithmetic, nonroutine problem solving, analytic geometry, number bases, number theory, hand calculators and calculus, according to information provided by the Southeast Missouri State University Department of Mathematics.

Congratulations to all who competed at the event, and thank you to those who organized and executed the event.