News Release

Auburn High School Commended in National Math Contest

Auburn High School was recently commended for its mathematics program by receiving a commendation in the 2007 Collaborative Problem-Solving Contest, a national mathematics contest administered by National Assessment & Testing. While many math competitions encourage rote memorization, familiar problems, and quick mental reflexes, the Collaborative Problem-Solving Contest presents schools with fifteen unique, intricate problems to be solved over the course of a week. Under the guidance of coach Matt Beeken, AHS students worked together using brainstorming, collaboration, research, and technology to solve the problems, gaining experience with skills that will be critical in college and their careers.

The 2007 Collaborative Problem-Solving Contest included creative problems accessible to students of all abilities, such as one asking teams to determine how many times a day a digital clock displays an arithmetic pattern. For example, a 12-hour digital clock will display an arithmetic pattern with a difference of 1 (e.g. 1:23 or 9:01) twelve times a day, while a 24-hour digital clock will only do so three times a day. Other problems on the test started out simply, but progressed to some very difficult conclusions.

Auburn High School was commended for having the highest score in the nation on problem 10, one of the most difficult. This problem involved writing the answers to clues using mathematical notation (e.g. “1997 Sci-Fi Movie” was “The Fifth Element”, which could be written as “The 5th ”, though some creative teams found an even more elegant expression, “B”, which is the symbol for Boron, the 5th element of the periodic table.)

National Assessment & Testing administers high-quality mathematics competitions throughout the year that high schools can participate in through the mail. Their 2007-2008 schedule includes five contests in a variety of formats, including individual and team tests, as well as a variety of difficulties, from an easier 100 problems in 30 minutes to a more complicated 15 problems in one week.