Problem solvers

“Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.” – Albert Einstein

So, it’s a poetry competition — number poetry.

Mathletes®, as they are called, met on January 30 in TCU’s Brown Lupton University Union for a battle of the minds. The competitors – 184 students representing 27 schools — completed written exams and sparred in fast-paced oral matches. Subject areas covered were number theory, probability, statistics, algebra and geometry. Individual winners as well as team winners received trophies and will go on to compete in the MATHCOUNTS® Foundation state finals on March 18 and 19 in Irving.

Like any competition, Mathletes® prepare for months. Brady Rayburn, math teacher from Keller’s Hillwood Middle School, said their team starts practicing in October. Kids in the Math Club meet after school weekly, and students typically practice an additional two to three hours per week on their own as the competition approaches. “The competition offers students a chance to solve a wide variety of problems using their creativity. My only rule,” Rayburn said, “is that we have fun every week.”

Students from Satish Tiwari’s MATHCOUNTS® group at Trinity Valley School agree that it’s fun to work together and help each other. They believe it helps their listening skills and teaches them to become good team players. “It’s fun solving problems together,” one student said.

The competition, known as MATHCOUNTS®, is a national program designed to improve math skills among U.S. students, but focused on middle school students who, as a group, are in a critical stage in developing and sustaining math interest and ability.

Nationally, over 40,000 middle school students representing more than 6,000 schools from all 50 states compete. Locally, math competitors meet at the Fort Worth competition each year which is organized by the Fort Worth chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers.

It was once said that math teaches us to believe that every problem has a solution. Trinity Valley’s coach Tiwari agrees. He said he has seen students who participate in the competition not only get better at problem solving, but they become better in almost all subjects and become more confident people. Tiwari believes the MATHCOUNTS® competition provides an excellent opportunity for students who like math to challenge themselves. Equally important, he said, the group is a great place for students who are afraid of math to learn that math is actually fun and nothing to fear.

As one student from Trinity Valley School wrote, “I wish my sister joined MATHCOUNTS®, then she wouldn’t complain about math.”

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 7:49 AM with the headline "Problem solvers."