Math Bee

You are invited to enter Colina's Math Bee, presented via a fascinating multimedia (PowerPoint) format; it is a contest of knowledge and strategy (such as use of "process of elimination" in narrowing answer choices).

The top scorer schoolwide will receive a $25 Best Buy Gift Card and the approximately half dozen next highest scorers schoolwide will each receive a $15 Best Buy Card. These contestants will be recognized on Colina's website and over Colina's P.A. system. The single top scorer in each math class will receive 5 Cougar Cash cards (if the highest scorer in a given math class has received the aforementioned Best Buy Card, no Cougar Cash will be awarded). Additionally, the top scorer from each class will be invited to a free pizza lunch (to be held in late May, 2008) with Mr. and Mrs. Kane; at that lunch, all participants will be given some strategies for succeeding on multiple-choice SAT that's taken for college entrance.

Some 40-50 multiple-choice items will be presented one at a time via Powerpoint-type slides. Some sample questions appear in the scrolling banner at the top of this page. Contestants may be asked to work alone or in pairs (with one answer per question between the partners); the exact format for this year's Bee will be determined by Colina, and will be announced the morning of the contest.

Each contestant will answer by "bubbling in" on a Scantron form.

Each item has a time limit; for instance, you might be given only 10 seconds to answer this question: Which is a "primitive" calculating device--TI-86 Texas Instruments calculator; iMac computer; IBM Pentium 4 Computer; or abacus?

On the other hand, you might be alloted 40 seconds to solve the equation 3x - 7 - x - x - 3 = -6x + 5x - 19.

Because no calculator use is permitted, some items require you to use ingenuity to discover a short-cut to solving a problem within the alloted time. For instance, for the problem shown in the upper right of this page, a short-cut is to be thinking that 1991-squared is close to 2000 x 2000, whose answer is 4,000,000; so the answer is not A or B. Also, the answer must end in a 1, so it isn't E. To find out whether it's C or D, what other trick can you use?

Every contestant stays in the competition from beginning to end; no one is eliminated along the way. Any item related to math may appear on the Math Bee. An item may involve answering a question, simplifying, solving, identifying a number (e.g, rational number), identifying an object (e.g, Which is the graph of a parabola?), picking out a famous mathematician (e.g., Pythagoras), or others. The Math Bee winner is determined based on the number of questions answered correctly.

It’s academic fun--low pressure, high excitement. No standing in front of everyone to answer questions (as one has to do in our spelling and geography bees). Every contestant is “in” until the end of the Bee; the winner is determined based on the number of questions correctly. For all or most Bee items, you will be asked to select the best choice from among four or five choices; a given question may be presented within a context, which may or may not be helpful in arriving at the correct answer.