Local Whiz Kids Win Awards in Math and Statistics

Susan Brown | May 19, 2008

Zhao Zhang of Rancho Bernardo High School explains his solution to a mathematical problem.

Elegant solutions to challenging problems have earned honors for local high school students in mathematics and statistics competitions held at UC San Diego in April.

“It’s a way of connecting our faculty with high school math students and their teachers,” said Bruce Arnold, UCSD’s director of Mathematics Placement and Testing. Arnold coordinated the events, which were sponsored by UCSD, the Greater San Diego Mathematics Council and the San Diego Chapter of the American Statistical Association.

Students from 21 high schools grappled with puzzles designed to require insight and the creative use of mathematical principles. One question asked whether two triangles that that share five measures — the angles of each of their three corners and the lengths of two of their sides — must be exactly the same size and shape. The surprising answer, at least at first glance, is that they needn’t be identical, and the challenge for the students was to find an example that disproved the notion.

Only a few of the 163 students who competed were able to find solutions to all four problems, Arnold said. Scores were based both on their answers to these questions and on their performance on a multiple choice exam that tested the breadth of their understanding of fundamental high-school-level math. Students with the top five scores won gift certificates from The Art of Problem Solving, a local company that provides online courses and books to challenge students and help them to prepare for math competitions.

Competitors in statistics were asked to reason through problems using their understanding of probabilities and statistical analysis. If a public opinion firm surveyed 1,600 voters and found 830 who supported one candidate, for example, should the other give up? Or is the race a dead heat? The contest, now in its second year, drew 38 students from 11 area high schools, up from four schools last year. The statistical association awarded $500 scholarships to the top two students, Ben Cosman of La Jolla High School and Edward Zhu of Torrey Pines High School.

Jeff Wu of The Bishop’s School and Stephen Liu of Torrey Pines High School earned the top two scores in mathematics. They, along with the top five in each subject also won graphing calculators donated by Texas Instruments.

Long Vo of Junipero Serra High School
answers a question about his statistical
analysis at the awards ceremony.

Nine of the students who showed an exceptional flair for working through the problems were invited to share their solutions at awards ceremonies held at the Faculty Club.

“We were looking for exemplars, answers that were not only complete and correct, but also clear and elegant,” said Arnold, who along with three graduate students in mathematics graded the essays. “Some of the students came up with beautiful examples,” he said, “For coaches and students, and professors who attend, that’s their favorite part of the dinner.”

The events also show students how some of the principles they are learning now, which can seem abstract, have interesting applications, Arnold said. UCSD mathematics professor David Meyer talked about how quantum computers use matrices to interpret data stored as qubits. And Mark Machina, a professor of economics, told the statistics students humorous tales of the ways people blunder when using probabilities to make decisions.

Competition is a large part of high school, notes Kent Hartmann, who coached the team from The Bishop’s School in La Jolla. “For students who are adept at math, this gives them an opportunity to shine.”