WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 13, all day, beginning 8 a.m.
WHERE: NU Coliseum (opening ceremonies) and Nebraska Union
Lincoln, Neb., Oct. 30, 2003 -- The 14th annual University of Nebraska-Lincoln Math Day will be held Nov. 13 at the Nebraska City Union, 1400 R St. Opening ceremonies will begin at 8 a.m. at the Nebraska Coliseum.
The purpose of Math Day is to stimulate interest in mathematics among Nebraska high school students, to encourage them to pursue mathematics or mathematics-based science careers, and to recognize mathematical ability by awarding scholarships, certificates and trophies.
Math Day consists of one individual and two team mathematics competitions, information about majors and departments, career information, and recreational mathematical activities. Organizers expect to draw more than 1,400 students from 102 high schools to the events. The Department of Mathematics and the College of Arts and Sciences provide support. Scholarships are funded by a grant from The Gallup Organization.
All students start with a multiple-choice, preliminary exam called PROBE I (Problems Requiring Original and Brilliant Effort). The top 50 move on to take PROBE II. The top 10 students in the PROBE II competition are awarded four-year scholarships to UNL worth a total of $34,000.
The first team competition result is based on the scores from PROBE I. It is determined by adding the top three to five scores from each school, depending on the school's class. The second team competition result is determined by a double-elimination tournament pitting three-member teams against each other. The team competitions are divided into smallest, small, medium, and large school categories with trophies given to the top two teams in each class.
All the questions assume only two years of high school algebra and one year of geometry. However, the answers to PROBE II questions require exceptional creativity and originality.
For information about specific times and locations of events, contact Lori Mueller, (402) 472-4319 or Gordon Woodward (402) 472-7239 or e-mail mathday@math.unl.edu.
CONTACTS: Lori Mueller, Mathematics, (402) 472-4319; and
< a href=mailto:gwoodward1@unl.edu>Gordon Woodward
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Posted by Tom Simons, Office of University Communications
Phone: (402) 472-8514, Fax: (402) 472-7825