Students duel in today’s MATHCOUNTS competition

“Rick has a cup containing at least one penny, at least one nickel and at least one dime. The total value of the coins in the cup is $1.25. What is the sum of the largest possible number of nickels in the cup and the smallest possible number of nickels in the cup?”

Sounds tough? That’s just a sample of the type of questions that will be asked during the 11th annual CNMI MATHCOUNTS Commonwealth Championship Competition, which will be held today, March 19, at the Chacha Oceanview Jr. High School.

The competition will be held from 8am to 12 noon and will be followed by a banquet lunch and awards ceremony immediately after the competition.

The exciting Countdown Round will be conducted during the competition between 10:45am and 11:30am. This is when the top four individuals with the best scores from the Sprint and Target Rounds will be announced.

The top four “Mathletes” from the Countdown Round will represent the CNMI at the National MATHCOUNTS Championship in Detroit in early May.

Approximately 22 teams, along with individual competitors from 12 different schools, will be challenging each other for the prestigious honor to represent the CNMI in Detroit. Approximately 90 students have entered the competition to square off against their peers.

The Team Competition will feature perennial math powerhouse Marianas Baptist Academy, which has taken first place every year in the CNMI State Competition. The other schools participating in this year’s Competition include Calvary Christian Academy, Chacha Oceanview Jr. High, Eucon International School, Grace Christian Academy-Saipan, Grace Christian Academy-Tinian, Hopwood Jr. High School, HJHS GATE Program, Mount Carmel School, Saipan Community School, Saipan International School, and Tinian Jr. High School.

MATHCOUNTS is a national program that tries to get students interested in math by posing fun and interesting questions. It also allows students to work as a team to sharpen their analytical abilities.

The competition is divided into three different rounds. The first round is the “Sprint Round” which poses 30 difficult questions that must be answered within 40 minutes. The second round is the “Target Round.” In the Target Round there are eight questions. The students are given two questions at a time and are allowed six minutes to answer each pair of questions. The Target Round is followed by the “Team Round” in which students compete in teams of four and work together to solve 10 problems in 20 minutes. Students are allowed to use calculators in the Target and Team Rounds.

The final Countdown Round is set up like a game show where the top 10 students compete one at a time against each other in front of the audience. The public is invited to come and watch this interesting and exciting part of the competition which will take place approximately between 10:45am and 11:30am.

The firm of Efrain F. Camacho (EFC) Engineers & Architects coordinates the CNMI program under the direction of the National Society of Professional Engineers. Thus far, for the 2004/2005 school year, several local sponsors and volunteer groups have come forward to assist the program including Chong’s Corp., Continental Airlines, Deloitte, DFS Saipan, Inc., EFC, Geotesting Inc., Mobil Oil Marianas, National Office Supply, Saipan Shipping Co., Saipan Garment Manufacturing Association, Subway Investment, Transamerica Corp. UMDA, UPAA-CNMI Chapter, and Verizon Micronesia. The program is still in need of additional funds and volunteers for this year. If you are interested in helping out, or if your company can assist financially, contact CNMI MATHCOUNTS at: (phone) 322-7814 or (fax) 322-6044.

By the way, the answer to the puzzler above is 23 nickels.