High school math competition as competitive sport

[Andy Nguyen]

The exploding popularity of high school math teams coincides with the emergence of the digital economy, one that at its core is powered by mathematics. In contrast to the oil, shipping and retail magnates of generations past, many of today’s wealthiest and most powerful executives built their empires on algorithms and probability in fields such as Internet software and hedge funds.

Bram Cohen, creator of BitTorrent — the successor to file-sharing service Napster that at one point grew to host a third of all Internet traffic — was a star on New York’s Stuyvesant High School math team. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg — who runs the social networking company with 900 million users — was part of the top-ranked Phillips Exeter Academy team in New Hampshire.

Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder estimated to be worth $18.7 billion, is arguably the most famous alumnus of the Montgomery County Math Team, which draws students from other parts of the state. As a student at Eleanor Roosevelt High School 22 years ago, he had a reputation for being a jokester. During one math competition, teammates recall, he hosed everyone with water guns.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...titive-sport/2012/08/02/gJQAvmtQPX_story.html

 

[IlyaKEightSix]

Wow. $100 an hour math camp. I'd like to be able to get wealthy enough one day to have children and be able to send them to such places.

Edit: finished reading the article. To raise kids like those would be a dream come true. Just goes to show you the power of good, dedicated parenting.

 

[euroazn]

The exploding popularity of high school math teams coincides with the emergence of the digital economy, one that at its core is powered by mathematics. In contrast to the oil, shipping and retail magnates of generations past, many of today’s wealthiest and most powerful executives built their empires on algorithms and probability in fields such as Internet software and hedge funds.

Bram Cohen, creator of BitTorrent — the successor to file-sharing service Napster that at one point grew to host a third of all Internet traffic — was a star on New York’s Stuyvesant High School math team. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg — who runs the social networking company with 900 million users — was part of the top-ranked Phillips Exeter Academy team in New Hampshire.

Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder estimated to be worth $18.7 billion, is arguably the most famous alumnus of the Montgomery County Math Team, which draws students from other parts of the state. As a student at Eleanor Roosevelt High School 22 years ago, he had a reputation for being a jokester. During one math competition, teammates recall, he hosed everyone with water guns.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...titive-sport/2012/08/02/gJQAvmtQPX_story.html

I too, am an alumnus of that team
If anyone has any questions regarding Montgomery I can answer them.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I too, am an alumnus of that team
If anyone has any questions regarding Montgomery I can answer them.

Their proctor, a longtime coach for the New York City team, seems to delight in teasing the team. He gives the students the standard warning about handing in their cellphones and calculators and says he will not tolerate cheating. But he can’t resist getting in a jab, saying it wouldn’t matter anyway: “You’re not going to come close to New York City,” he says, only half-joking.

 

[pruse]

I was captain of the Stuy math team and a member of the 2nd place ARML team in 2000.

Ahh the high school days...

 

[IlyaKEightSix]

Oh, and I know the coach of the Lehigh Valley team. He was a professor of mine =). Very nice man, he is.