Math Day Nov. 11 to draw students from across Nebraska

The 15th annual University of Nebraska-Lincoln Math Day will be Nov. 11 at the Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Opening ceremonies will begin at 8 a.m. at the Lied Center for the Performing Arts, 301 N. 12th St., where UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman will give the opening address.

The purpose of Math Day is to stimulate interest in mathematics among Nebraska high school students, to encourage them to pursue mathematics or mathematics-based science careers, and to recognize mathematical ability by awarding scholarships, certificates and trophies.

Math Day consists of one individual and two team mathematics competitions, information about majors and departments, career information and recreational mathematical activities. The competition is expected to draw more than 1,400 students from more than 100 Nebraska schools.

The Department of Mathematics and the College of Arts and Sciences provide support. Scholarships are funded by a grant from the Gallup Organization.

All students start with a multiple-choice preliminary exam called PROBE I (Problems Requiring Original and Brilliant Effort). The top 50 move on to take PROBE II. The top 10 students in the PROBE II competition are awarded four-year scholarships to UNL worth a total of $34,000.

The first team competition result is based on the scores from PROBE I. It is determined by adding the top three to five scores from each school, depending on the school's class. The second team competition is a double-elimination tournament pitting three-member teams against one another. The team competitions are divided into four classes by enrollment. Trophies are given to the top two teams in each class.

All the questions assume two years of high school algebra and one year of geometry have been completed. However, the answers to PROBE II questions require exceptional creativity and originality.

For information about specific times and locations of events, call Lori Mueller at (402) 472-4319 or Gordon Woodward at (402) 472-7239, or e-mail mathday@math.unl.edu.

CONTACTS: Lori Mueller, Administrative Technician, Mathematics, (402) 472-4319; and
Gordon Woodward, Professor, Mathematics, (402) 472-7239