Mathematical Sciences Sponsors 13th Calculus Challenge

June 14, 2016

The Department of Mathematical Sciences sponsored the 13th annual Clemson Calculus Challenge on Friday, April 15, 2016. The Clemson Calculus Challenge invites high school calculus students from South Carolina, Northeast Georgia, Western North Carolina, and Eastern Alabama to compete in a one-day event. There were 233 students from 34 regional high schools that took the 2016 Challenge. 

Students take an individual test in the morning and then participate in a team competition in the afternoon. After the team competition, the schools attended a short research presentation entitled “Don’t be fooled by computer models: they don’t always tell the truth!,” delivered by Dr. Sez Atamturktur, Distinguished Professor of Intelligent Infrastructure, Department of Civil Engineering.

 

Several prizes were presented at the awards ceremony. Each school was placed into one of three divisions based on their school’s enrollment. Trophies were handed out in three categories:  Individual, Team, and School.  Five hundred dollar scholarships to Clemson University were given to the first and second place finishers on the morning exam in each school division.  Mu Alpha Theta (the national high school and two-year college honor society) presented $100 to the top scorer and $50 to the second place scorer on the morning exam.  The honor society also conferred three 1-year licenses to Mathematica upon the top morning exam scorers in each school division.  Lastly, one team in each school division was recognized as having the most creative team name.  These teams were given gift cards to Barnes & Nobles.  The awardees for the 2016 Clemson Calculus Challenge are listed below:

 

School Awards

 

Place	Division I	Division II	Division III
First	Christ Church Episcopal School	D.W. Daniel High School	Spring Valley High School
Second	The Altamont School	North Oconee High School	Mountain View High School
Third	Southside Christian School	Oconee County High School	South Forsyth High School

 

Team Awards

 

Place	Division I	Division II	Division III
First	CCES squared (Christ Church Episcopal School)	~ i (North Oconee High School)	Laplace’s Opimus Primes (Mountain View High School)
Second	SDS A (Spartanburg Day School)	We are # sin (π/2) (D.W. Daniel High School)	Math Destruction (Spring Valley High School)
Third	Feel the Curve (Southside Christian School)	Differentiated from the crowd (D.W. Daniel High School)	Calcaholics Anonymous (Mauldin High School)

 

Individual Awards

 

Place	Division I	Division II	Division III
First	Andy Xu***, Top Score Morning Exam (Christ Church Episcopal School)	Sarah Baum (D.W. Daniel High School)	Albert Huang*, Second-place Score Morning Exam (Spring Valley High School)
Second	William Tang (The Altamont School)	Ian Ruohoniemi** (D.W. Daniel High School)	Jenning Chen* (Spring Valley High School)
Third	John Staubes** (Academic Magnet High School)	Hank Morris* (Oconee County High School)	Harish Kamath* (South Forsyth High School)

*Indicates junior status in high school   **Indicates sophomore status in high school

***Indicates freshman status in high school

Most Creative Team Name

 

Division I	Division II	Division III
Mary Had a Little Lambda (Rockdale Magnet School)	Calcoholics (Crescent High School)	Southern L’Hopitality (West Forsyth High School)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 2016 Clemson Calculus Challenge received funding from the Department of Mathematical Sciences and the College of Engineering and Science. Terri Johnson and Shari Prevost coordinated the 2016 competition.  They were aided greatly by many volunteers from the faculty, staff and students of the Department of Mathematical Sciences.