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On Saturday, February 2 2019, students from Bellwood-Antis Middle School competed with students from many different schools in a Mathcounts competition held at Penn State Altoona. Out of eight schools including Altoona Area Junior High School (AAJHS), Pleasant Valley Elementary, Everett Area Middle School, Hollidaysburg Area Junior High School (HAJHS), Central Region, Mount Nittany Middle School (MNMS), Park Forest Middle School (PFMS), and State College Area (fifth graders), the B-A team earned a second place finish. Team members were Joey Balsamo, Jessie Corrado, Canyon Neyman and Shane Rachel. Individually, the students placed as follows: Zachary Gonzalez 22nd, Jessie Corrado 20th, Ryan Marinak 18th, Canyon Neyman 12th, Joey Balsamo 11th and Shane Rachel 7th. Mrs. Taylor is the advisor of the group.

Mathcounts is a national math enrichment, coaching, and competition program open to all middle school students in 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade who are willing to participate. Team members who have participated said that there are many benefits to being a “mathlete”. Among them are participation in a challenging and fun activity that helps students in their math classes as well as a chance to share common interests with new and often long-lasting friends. The students also said that having the opportunity to meet kids from other schools and being able to experience the development of teamwork skills was also important. Lastly, students have the chance to vie for scholarships and prizes, they feel a sense of accomplishment that comes from setting and achieving goals, and they are able to explore mathematics that are not always taught in middle school classrooms.   

The competition typically starts out with a Sprint round which is answering 30 questions within 40 minutes with no calculator. After that, the students have a break followed by the  Target round consisting of two questions that need to be solved within six minutes with a calculator. Next, the students have another break and a Team round, including ten questions. After lunch the students have a Countdown round with the top 10 competitors from Blair County. The competition ends with awards, photos and closing remarks.  

This is an example of a problem the Mathcounts competitors had to solve. Try solving it without a calculator!

1. Bob has 40 cents in his pocket. If Bob has no pennies, how many different combinations of quarters, dimes and/or nickels could he have?
2. What is the value of 9 + 5 x 3 – 8/2?
3. What is the average of the prime numbers between 20 and 30?
4. Of 1000 people surveyed, one-third of the 630 people who reported owning a cat also own a dog. If each person surveyed owns a cat, a dog or both, how many own a dog?
5. How many lines of symmetry does an isosceles right triangle have?
6. Ted flips a coin that is equally likely to land heads up or tails up. Ted flips the coin 10 times, and each time it lands heads up. What is the probability that the next flip will also lands head up? Explain your answer as a common factor.
7. If two more than three times x is equal to five less than ten times x, what is the value of x?
8. What is the volume  of a rectangular prism of height 5 cm, width 7 cm and depth 3 cm?

Congratulations to all of the students involved in this amazing math activity!