NMS Math Team Facing Tough Competition

Can you answer this questions? Hermione has some 37-cent stamps and some 39-cent stamps. If she has exactly 30 stamps with a total value of $11.42, how many 37-cent stamps does she have?

This was one of the questions presented to the Math Teams from Newtown, East Ridge, Roger’s Park, Whisconier, and Broadview middle schools at the Fairfield County Math League Meet held December 12 at Newtown Middle School.

Newtown’s Math Team, coached by Elizabeth Stevens and Marguerite Tracy, is comprised of seven eighth graders, ten seventh graders, and six sixth graders from Reed Intermediate School.

The Math Teams hold regular practices to prepare for the five meets held each year. Meets are held in November, December, February, March, and April. At each meet, students are given six questions to solve. Two students from each grade level are “sent in” on each question.

Questions are timed. Students have five minutes to solve most questions. If the question is an “order of operation” query, students have three minutes to solve it. You may have learned the mnemonic, Please My Dear Aunt Sally, which stands for Parentheses, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction. This is the order in which equations should be worked, i.e., when solving 2.5 x 9 + 2 (2.25 + 3) – 12.

The Newtown team started off strong, earning five out of six points on the first question. The second round garnered four more. Then things got dicey. No Newtown students got the third question correct.

They recovered somewhat in round four (the question given above), earning three points. Round five brought six points with all Newtowners answering correctly. Round six did not see Newtown score either.

Nonetheless, when all was said and done, the Newtown Math Team finished this meet in third place. They are ranked fourth in the league after two tournaments.

The top individual scorers from Newtown were eighth graders Andy Hsu and Amy Kung and seventh graders Brandon Hart and Brandon Luxkaranayagam.

Other team members earning points include Greg Campbell, Laurel Speed, Jay DeStories, Miryam Wilson, Talia Fappiano, Monika Tedla, Sunny Liu, Emma Sabin, and Karan Marwah.

As half the team figured out, Hermione has 14 37-cent stamps.