UPPER BURRELL, Pa. -- Students from eight area high schools had their math skills put to the test Nov. 18 for the first round of the Interscholastic Mathematics League at Penn State New Kensington.
Sponsored by WEDIG (Westmoreland Economic and Development Initiative for Growth), the annual competition brings together students from Burrell, Ford City, Freeport, Kiski Area, Kiski School, Kittanning, Leechburg and Valley high schools, and gives them the chance to go head-to-head with each other in an academic competition.
Each school is allowed three teams of five students, competing against all the other teams in each round. Students answer two sets of eight questions within the 25-minute limit for each set. The questions in algebra, geometry and other areas of mathematics are developed by the campus’ husband-and-wife team of Xiang Ji, assistant professor of mathematics, and Ge Mu, instructor in mathematics.
The leaderboard looks familiar after the first round as the Kiski School A team scored 40 points to open a 14-point advantage on Kiski School C. The battle for third place is the most competitive with Kiski School B at 22 points, followed by Freeport A, 21, and the A teams of Burrell and Kiski Area at 20. Yunzhe Li of Kiski School is the individual leader with 15 points. The Saltsburg college preparatory boarding school also produced the next two highest individual scores with Wei Zhang, 14, and Immanuel Joy, 12.
Scores carry over to the final round that is slated for April 16 in the campus' Forum Theatre. Team and individual champions will be crowned. Kiski School is the five-time defending champion.
“The Math League serves as a wonderful way to motivate students to achieve their best study potentials in mathematics,” said Mu, who joined the New Kensington campus faculty in 2012.
Mu holds a master of arts in mathematics degree from Penn State, where she taught mathematics for two years before arriving at the New Kensington campus. A native of China, Mu has written two books: “Being an Undergraduate in the U.S.” that was published by Heilongjiang Education Press in 2006 and Comprehensive College Algebra – Building Mathematics Insights through Logic and Exercises, that was published by Cognella Academic Publishing in 2013. The first book was written when she was an undergraduate and is based on her experiences at Louisiana State University. She was recognized for her publication at LSU’s commencement ceremony in 2008.
Ji, in his second year at the campus, earned his doctorate in mathematics from Penn State after securing a master’s degree in mathematics from Beijing University in China. He was a graduate teaching assistant at the University Park campus for four years. Ji’s research interests are differential geometry and mathematical physics. He wrote a book, Comprehensive College Algebra: Building Mathematical Insights Through Logic and Exercises, that was published this year by Cognella. Mu was the co-author.
For additional information, contact Mu at 724-334-6030 or gxm929@psu.edu.
For results of the first round, visit http://www.nk.psu.edu/46078.htm.