Imagine this: Write a list, in increasing size order, of every four-digit number greater than 1,000 which has four different digits. What is the 111th entry on this list? You have five minutes.
The answer? 1,297, of course!
The days of donning pocket protectors are over. On March 11, more than 100 students from area high schools gathered at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie for the annual Dutchess, Ulster, Sullivan and Orange (DUSO) math league sectional championships. Some students wore personalized hooded sweatshirts with their school colors; others sported hand-decorated T-shirts representing their teams.
“We call them mathletes,” said Maureen Black, of Spackenkill High School. Black is a math league coach, and has been the president of DUSO since 2004. “I participated in DUSO from 1972-76 as a student, and now 30 years later I’m participating as an advisor,” she said.
DUSO is part of the New York State Math League (NYSML), which has 13 member leagues. There are 63 teams in DUSO, and six sections. From October through February, the teams in each section meet face-to-face to compete for a spot in the sectional competition. This season 21 teams qualified. Each competing team is comprised of five students, and some schools brought along alternates, who rotated in and out of the two-part competition.
The first portion consists of six questions. Each individual student in each team answers each question, and the total number of correct answers from each team are recorded. Part two, the “relay” competition, is a group effort. Each student in each team is given a math problem, which they are unable to complete until the person before them has completed their own. Embedded in the math problem is the acronym TNYWR, meaning “The Number You Will Receive.” The number is different for each teammate, and is determined by the answer to the question of the previous teammate.
“We do occasional practices, but mostly this is about the innate talent of the students,” said Arlington math league coach Kirk Weiler. Arlington had three math teams qualify for the competition this season – a first in DUSO history.
“I come for the pizza,” said Spackenkill freshman Charlotte Li, “And some of my friends do it, so it’s a chance to hang out with them.”
Though Li and her friend Helen Fang from Arlington were competing against one another in this competition, they both went home winners. For the third consecutive year, Spackenkill’s team A took home the first-place trophy, with an overall score of 24 points. Arlington’s team A won second place with a score of 17 points, and Arlington’s team B won third place with a score of 16 points. Also scoring 16 points were John Jay’s team A, and Warwick’s team A.
The trophy, which rotates yearly from winning school to winning school, will return once again to the display case in the lobby of Spackenkill High School.
The top 34 students from DUSO will move on and represent DUSO in the NYSML Championships in Rochester on April 5. Next year DUSO will host the state championship at John Jay High School, in Wappinger.
“DUSO lets students stretch their minds with math problems in a non-classroom setting. They’re having fun with math and they’re seeing different sorts of problems, which may require them to think outside of the box,” said Black. “They have to bring more to the questions than just a list of operations.”
After four years as DUSO’s president, Black will be stepping down from the volunteer position next school year. Anchala Sobrin, of John Jay High School, will take her place.