MATHCOUNTS Chautauqua/Cattaraugus Regional Contest

is a national program conducted by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), consisting of a series of mathematical contests for 8th-graders, 7th-graders, and advanced 6th-graders. The contests progress from competitions within middle schools to regional events to state events to the national competition. The regional contests are held in February, the state contests in March, and the national competition in May. ESPN broadcast the 2003 and 2004 national competitions. In addition to the NSPE, the national contest is sponsored by the CNA Foundation, the ADC Foundation, the General Motors Foundation, the Lockheed Martin Corporation, Texas Instruments, the 3M Foundation, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The purpose of MATHCOUNTS is to promote involvement in mathematics and to recognize students with interest and ability in mathematics.

The St. Bonaventure Department of Mathematics hosts the Chautauqua/Cattaraugus regional contest. Each participating middle school sends four students and a "coach" to the contest, the coach being a teacher who has helped prepare the students for competition. Each school may also send one or more alternates, who would compete if any of the school's official entrants were unable to participate. A regional contest is divided into a morning session and an afternoon session. The morning session is comprised of three rounds of written questions: during the Sprint Round and the Target Round, students work individually; during the Team Round, the four students from each school work (not unexpectedly) as a team. The afternoon session is dedicated to the Countdown Round, in which the top individuals from the morning session engage in verbal-response, head-to-head competitions. The three highest-ranking individuals from the morning session, the three highest-ranking teams from the Team Round, and the top individual from the Countdown Round receive trophies during the award ceremony. 

The following three problems, taken from the 2004-2005 MATHCOUNTS School Handbook, are indicative of the problems posed in the regional competitions.

1. The time is 4:40 p.m. What is the degree measure of the smallest angle formed by the minute hand and the hour hand?
2. Rewrite the expression  a/b + c/d + e/f  such that each variable is replaced by a different nonzero digit and the value of the expression is 1. (The answer may not be unique.)
3. Using the sides of the 64 unit squares of a standard chessboard, how many non-congruent rectangles can be formed?

For more information about SBU's regional contest, contact its coordinator, Dr. Doug Cashing (dcashing@sbu.edu). Further information about the MATHCOUNTS program may be found at the MATHCOUNTS web site.

The 2007 MATHCOUNTS Regional Contest

The 2007 MATHCOUNTS Regional Contest was held Saturday, February 3. Five middle schools competed: Allegany-Limestone Middle School (coach Kathy Stamets), Cheektowaga Central Middle School (coach Dave Guzzino), Falconer Central School (coach Becky Anderson), Salamanca Middle School (coach Diane Dietrich), and Tapestry Charter School from Buffalo (coach Garret Farrugia). The organizers of the competition were impressed by the students' passion and talent for mathematics. The contest was financially supported by St. Bonaventure University and two anonymous grants.

Photographs of the teams, prior to doing battle, appear below, followed by photos taken during the competition.

In the individual competition, Natalie Burns of Falconer Central placed first, Nicholas Sam of Tapestry Charter placed second, and Erin Rozewicz of Cheektowaga Central placed third. In the team competition, Falconer Central (Miles Brickley, Natalie Burns, Collin Everett, and Weston Young) took first, Tapestry Charter (Fiona Hennig, Andrew McGuire, Nicholas Sam, and Justin Thompson) took second, and Cheektowaga Central (Gabrielle Pawlowski, Taylor Perry, Erin Rozewicz, and Aaron Wheeler) took third.

The top three teams have been invited to the New York State competition, which will be held March 10 at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy. At the Lockheed Martin MATHCOUNTS National Competition, to be held May 10–13 in Fort Worth, Texas, the top "mathletes" from the state contests compete individually.

Allegany-Limestone Middle School. (Left to right) Back row: Coach Kathy Stamets,
Andrew Meyers, Chad Monkhouse, Sara Levine, and Tyler Barndt.
Front row: Sarah Ruffner, Jordan Shurlman, Rahul Thandla, and Laura Jaremko.

Cheektowaga Central Middle School. (Left to right) Coach Dave Guzzino, Aaron Wheeler,
Nhan, Bui, Amanda Hoctor, Taylor Perry, Erin Rozewicz, and Gabrielle Pawlowski.

Falconer Central School. (Left to right) Back row: Coach
Becky Anderson, Natalie Burns, and Miles Brickley. 
Front row: Brianna Green, Collin Everett, and Weston Young.

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Salamanca Middle School. Coach Diane Dietrich, Jessica Luce, 
Reba Marsh, Brandon Krieger, and Joseph Giordano.

Tapestry Charter Middle School. (Left to right) Back row: Zachery Bliss, Jacob Pugliese,
Andrew McGuire, Coach Garret Farrugia, Justin Thompson, and Fiona Hennig.
Front row: Courtney Fox, Nicholas Sam, and Max Barnhart.

The Team Round. To the left, Cheektowaga Central (foreground) and Tapestry Charter work intently. To the right, SBU student volunteers Jessica Posillico and Dom Patrone grade the team papers.

Falconer Central took first place in the Team Round. From left to
right: Miles Brickley, Weston Young, Natalie Burns, Collin Everett,
and coach Becky Anderson.

Tapestry Charter secured second place in the Team Round. Back row (from
left to right): Coach  Garret Farrugia, Justin Thompson, Fiona Hennig,
Andrew McGuire, Jacob Pugliese, and Courtney Fox. Front row (from left to
right): Zachery Bliss, Nicholas Sam, and Max Barnhart.

Cheektowaga Central took third place in the Team Round. From left to right: Taylor Perry,
Aaron Wheeler, Coach Dave Guzzino, Gabrielle Pawlowski, Nhan, Bui, Amanda Hoctor,
and Erin Rozewicz.

The 2006 MATHCOUNTS Regional Contest

The 2005 MATHCOUNTS Regional Contest