By: Anna Boris

More than 200 students sat in Woodland’s cafeteria, backs hunched over, pencils in hand. Eyes glance up at the clock now and again. Silence fills the room.

Students race to find answers to the problems on the paper in front of them. With only 40 minutes to solve 10 problems, there is not a second to spare.

Even a seven year old girl from Louis Mills joined the high school students in solving the questions.

When the 40 minutes are up, students are divided into teams of five to solve one last problem as a team, this problem they are given only 10 minutes. These teams can have no more than two seniors and two juniors; however there is no limit on the amount of sophomores and freshmen allowed on each team.

After, the coaches, Nancy Kiesel and Craig Skigen, sit down to correct the tests. The scores are announced. Woodland has come in fourth place out of eight schools.

Jiye Park, a junior on Woodland’s math team, scored a perfect 100. Out of 200 students, only five received a perfect score.

The questions used for the individual round are made up of five different topics- arithmetic, algebra, geometry, advanced algebra, and pre-calculus. The topics usually try to correspond with what the students are currently learning in math class.

An example that was used in their first meet was

   Mr. Stake gives a math test with twenty problems. A student gains 5 points for each correct answer and loses 2 points for each wrong answer. If Tracy answered every problem and her score was 58, how many correct answers did she have?

 Answer: 14

    To most students, answering math questions may seem like a boring task, but this is exactly how the math practices.

Practices are held on the two Thursdays leading up to a meet. There are about 20 students on the math team, but the number varies due to different sports seasons.

In order to solve the problems the math team uses certain skills to break them down. For the previous real-world problem, the student must be able to verify the variable “C” to represent the number of correct answers.

Next, they need to know how to create an equation to solve for the right answer.

5C-2(20-C) =58 Once this is solved, you will get 14 correct answers equals C.

Although this may seem boring to some students, their work will pay off in the end.

Being on the math team looks impressive on applications, and can help students chances of getting into a good college.

“It looks favorable on college applications,” said guidance counselor Chris Albini, “it shows that the students are involved in extracurricular activities.”

In addition, if students are interested in majoring in careers involving mathematics, such as engineering or sciences, it will help them in later years.

“It might give you a new perspective,” said Math Teacher Michael Cullen.

With three meets left, the students on the math team are working hard and preparing. They hope to have a successful year.

“I enjoy it,” said sophomore Ayah Galal, “but there’s always room for improvement.”