July 17/98

High
school
math
wizards
visit
Capilano
College

These high school students are deep in thought as they puzzle through a math exam
during the B.C. Colleges High School Mathematics contest held at Capilano College in
May.

hirty junior and 36 senior high

school students came to Capilano
College May | to participate in the
British Columbia Colleges High School
Mathematics contest. This is the third
time Capilano College has hosted this
event.

Students were selected on the basis
of a multiple-choice preliminary round
administered in their own schools,
which included: Alpha, Argyle,
Britannia, Carson Graham,
Collingwood, Handsworth, Sentinel,
Seycove, Vancouver Waldorf School,
and Windsor. They came to the College
to write the final round tests with
students in grades 8, 9 and 10 writing
the junior paper, and students in grades
11 and 12 writing the senior paper.

The two-hour exams included both
multiple-choice and open-ended
problems. In the afternoon, students
participated in a math game show
hosted by Math instructors Ted
Bentley, Rick Brewster and Chris
Morgan. Junior and senior teams from
each school answered questions
involving probability, graph theory and

mathematical puzzles. College faculty
were impressed with the students’ speed
and ability.

Finally, the contest awards were
presented to the top students and top
schools in both the junior and senior
categories. There were many excellent
grades resulting in several ties. The first
place students all received grades of
100%. Prizes were awarded to:

Junior:

1st place

Mehdi Bahrami (Handsworth)
Gary Chang (Handsworth)
2nd place

Christine Lee (Alpha)

3rd place

Warren Liu (Alpha)

Maryam Kamgarpour (Carson Graham)
Top school

Handsworth

Senior:

1st place

Pin-Chang Liu (Sentinel)
2nd place

Daniel Brox (Sentinel)

3rd place

Teppei Mikami (Sentinel)
William Chen (Argyle)
Top school

Sentinel

Textbook publishing company and
calculator supplier, Addison-Wesley,
provided T183 graphics calculators as
prizes for the first place junior and
senior students.

The B.C. Colleges Mathematics
contest grew out of three contests held
annually by interior colleges since 1973.
Province-wide, nine colleges
participated in the contest this year.

The contest is popular with area high
schools because it is local and it is free.
It is made possible through the
volunteer efforts of high school and
College faculty. Despite the challenge
of having the contest during final exams
(necessary for synchronization with
other colleges), we look forward to
hosting this exciting event next year.

Submitted by Wendy Lynn

@nformer