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Upper School students rank high in math competitions in beginning of 2014
Participants in the Bay Area Math Olympiad (BAMO) pose in their BAMO T-shirts and hold up their trophies. Patrick Lin (11), Ashwath Thirumalai (11), and Vikram Sundar (12), who each had perfect scores and were Grand Prize winners, helped the Upper School win first place.
Upper School students participated in numerous math competitions since the beginning of 2014, ranking high in both individual and team categories.
The Math Club provided opportunities for students to take math contests, ranging from thirty-minute individual tests to team competitions against other schools with multiple rounds.
Participants were able to “learn other types of math” through the contests, according to Allison Wang (10). In addition, competitions held outside of school brought together students from around the nation, all sharing a common interest in math.
“I liked being able to meet people from other schools in the outside contests,” Patrick Lin (11) said. “There are people I don’t really get to see that often, and we get to all go together to the contests.”
Math Club advisor Misael Fisico felt proud of the increased participation and the initiation of the Olympiad Training program, in which more experienced students helped younger members practice for more advanced competitions such as the AIME or USA(J)MO.
“Math Club this year performed well because of the people behind it. The officers are much more active, and students are very enthusiastic about contests,” Fisico said. “The enthusiasm is there, and the dedication to solving problems could be easily felt.”
Here are the results.
AMC/AIME/USA(J)MO
The AMC 10/12 A was administered on Feb. 4, with 121 students competing. The AMC 10/12 B was given on Feb. 19 to Math Club members. 39 Upper School and 9 Middle School students qualified for the AIME competition in March.
Out of the AIME qualifiers, Varun Mohan (12), Rahul Sridhar (12), Vikram Sundar (12), and Ashwath Thirumalai (11) qualified for the USAMO. Shaya Zarkesh (8), Kai-Siang Ang (9), Peter Wu (9), Lawrence Li (10), Anika Mohindra (10), Allison, and Richard Yi (10) qualified for the USAJMO.
Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament
At the Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament on Feb. 22, students also placed among the top in the nation. The competition included three individual tests on Algebra, Geometry, and Combinatorics and two team tests, the Team Round and the Guts Round.
Vikram (5th place Combinatorics, 4th place Integration Bee, 28th place individual) and Ashwath (tied for 5th place Integration Bee, 42nd place individual) won individual awards.
Team A* Air (with Ashwath) won 2nd place team round, 1st place guts round, and 2nd place sweepstakes. Team A* Fire (with Vikram, Rahul Sridhar, and Richard) won 6th place team round and 6th place sweepstakes.
Stanford Math Tournament
Students competed at the Stanford Math Tournament (SMT) on Feb. 15, consisting of individual subject tests and a team portion (team round and power round.) For the individual round, participants were allowed to choose two tests on the topics of Advanced Topics, Algebra, Calculus, or Geometry or take the longer General Test.
Individual winners were: Ashwath (1st place Calculus), Varun (2nd place Algebra), Vikram (tied for 7th place Advanced Topics), and Patrick (tied for 9th place Calculus).
Two teams also won awards: Harker Omega (Vikram, Varun, Alex Pei (12), Ashwath, Patrick, Richard, Allison, and David Zhu (9)) in 2nd place sweepstakes and 3rd place power round. Harker Alpha (Albert Zhao (12), David Lin (11), Suzy Lou (11), Lawrence, Jessica Zhu (10), Anika, Kai, and Peter) in 9th place sweepstakes round.
This was the first time in the past four years that any school has had two teams in the top ten at SMT.
Bay Area Math Olympiad
On Feb. 25, both upper and middle school students participated in the Bay Area Math Olympiad (BAMO).
The Upper School team won 1st place with a perfect score, the first time in recent history that a team has had a perfect score. In addition, students also won individual awards. Grand Prize (35/35, or perfect score) winners were: Patrick, Vikram, and Ashwath. 2nd place (33/35) winner was: Alex. Honorable Mention (30-32/35) awards went to: Suzy, Rahul Sridhar, and David Zhu.
Berkeley Math Tournament
Students participated in the Berkeley Math Tournament on March 22. David won 1st in Discrete Focus, and Vikram won 2nd in Discrete Focus. Team Harker Omega (Patrick, Suzy, Alex, Rahul Sridhar, Vikram, Ashwath) won 1st place Power and 2nd place Sweepstakes.
Mandelbrot and Mandelbrot Team Play
Students scored high in the Mandelbrot competition, which consists of five rounds of problems in Regional and National levels. Overall, the team was second place in the National level. In addition, many individual students also placed:
National Leaderboard: Vikram, Varun, Patrick, David
National 2nd tier: Rahul Sridhar, Ashwath, Alex, Lawrence, Richard
National 3rd tier: Suzy
Regional Leaderboard: Nitya Mani (11), Misha Ivkov (9), Kai
Regional 3rd tier: Jessica
In Mandelbrot Team Play, all 3 teams placed on the leaderboard. Harker’s 1st team won 1st place in the nation.
Math Prize for Girls Olympiad
The Math Prize for Girls Olympiad, a proof-based contest that invites top scorers from the Math Prize for Girls competition at MIT, was held on Nov. 14. 4 students participated in the contest: Suzy, Nitya, Allison, and Cindy Liu (11). Suzy received a Gold Medal, and Allison received a Bronze. They will accept their medals at the next Math Prize for Girls competition.
Purple Comet
In the Purple Comet team competition, the team of Harker Omega, with Patrick, Suzy, Vikram, Ashwath, Allison, and Richard, won 1st with a perfect score. Harker Alpha, with Kai, Lawrence, Alex, Peter, and David, placed 5th.
Four-by-Four
The Four-by-Four Competition, part of the National Assessment’s series of math competitions following the Team Scramble and Fall Startup Event, was held on Jan. 30. This contest involved teams of four students taking ten 3-minute, four problem rounds.
As a school, the Upper School won 2nd in the nation, with the team of Vikram, Nihal Uppugunduri (12), Albert, and Rahul Jayaraman (11) placing 2nd in their division, and the team of Nitya, Suzy, Kai, and Richard placing 5th in their division.
Cindy Liu, Academics Editor for the TALON Yearbook, is a senior and has been on staff for four years. Her favorite part of journalism is being able to...