Kevin Liu, a 14-year-old eighth grader from Carmel Middle School in Carmel, Indiana, has earned the title of 2015 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS® National Champion after an intense, elite competition at the Sheraton Boston Hotel. This is the seventh year Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) has served as the event's title sponsor, as part of a decade-long commitment to MATHCOUNTS and a larger effort to promote education in science, technology, engineering and math.
Liu won the final round of the 2015 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition by answering the question: "How many arithmetic progressions of six increasing terms include the terms 15 and 20?" He gave the correct answer, 15, in 17.9 seconds. As National Champion, Liu is the recipient of the $20,000 Donald G. Weinert College Scholarship and a trip to U.S. Space Camp.
It was an amazing display of lightening-quick mathematical problem solving, and it is the pinnacle of years of dedication for young men and women who commit to the study of math for the sheer love of computation and competition. For a country that is supposedly committed to improving academic achievement, especially in the area of STEM, it would be nice for a little more attention to the prowess of these young mathletes. Sadly, the country - and media - are still strangely enamored of the Scripps National Spelling Bee while ignoring people with highly coveted math skills. The 2015 Championship for Kevin isn't online, but here's a look at the 2012 Finals:
No comments:
Post a Comment