Discovery math teams place first, second with National Assessment

(CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Math teams at Discovery Middle School ranked in first and second places in a national competition.

These students competed in the 2014 Four-by-Four Competition with National Assessment.

“This organization normally acknowledges the top five teams, but not as many middle schools as high schools are willing to tackle the difficulty level of National Assessment tests,” math coach and teacher Julie Goldston said.

The tests “are intended to challenge high school students who excel in math,” Goldston said.

The team earning first place includes David Li, Aditi Limaye, Tony Tian and Corey Tolbert. The second-place group includes Alan Grissom, Warren He, Shantanu Kadam and Marshall Wu.

“Congratulations to our hard-working math team members,” Goldston said. “Thank you to all who have played a part in preparing these exceptional students to compete at a national level.”

The student mathematicians had to answer complex essay questions. A sample follows:

* “When 123 people were surveyed, 94 liked sunny days and 75 liked windy days. What is the smallest number of people who could have liked both?”

In Four-by-Four competition, students worked in groups of four. They had three minutes to answer four math problems. “This process is repeated for 10 rounds. Groups earn between 0-10 points per round,” Goldston said.

The teams scored three points for one correct answer, five points for two correct, eight points for three correct and ten points for correctly answering all four questions. The cumulative total was 100 points.

Bob Jones High School ranked seventh among high schools, which was the highest ranking of any Alabama high school. James Clemens was close behind in 12th place.