Who Wants To Be A Mathematician?

In the American Mathematical Society contest Who Wants to Be a Mathematician, eight area high school students will compete at the 2nd USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo by answering multiple choice mathematics questions in a competitive quiz show format. The highest ranking 8 students will be pre-selected for the final round from written pre-qualification tests administered at area schools. The top prize is $3000 in cash for the winning contestant.

The game is a program of the American Mathematical Society Public Awareness Office and was developed by Mike Breen (AMS Public Awareness Officer) and Bill Butterworth (DePaul University).

Here are the details:

Who: High school students from the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and West Virginia are eligible to participate. The top prize is $3000.

What: America's math game at America's Science and Engineering Festival

When: The weekend of April 28, exact time to be determined

Where: The Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC

How (to qualify to participate): Teachers from the above states and DC will administer the qualifying tests to their students and return to the AMS Public Awareness Office by March 28, 2012. To obtain the tests, teachers should email the AMS Public Awareness Office at paoffice@ams.org with the subject line WWTBAM USASEF. In the email, include your name, school, phone number, and subjects taught (in the 2011-12 year). The AMS is hoping to get up to 100 schools involved.

Why: To reward some of the area's best math students and give festival attendees a chance to see them in action!

In addition to conducting Who Wants to Be a Mathematician at the 2012 festival, the AMS will also host a booth featuring a hands-on activity involving mathematics.

See highlights of the hands-on activity "Gyrangle" at the AMS booth at the 2010 festival and from the most recent Who Wants to Be a Mathematician in Washington.

Find out about the national Who Wants to Be a Mathematician.