Penn State Berks will host the 2015 Berks County Interscholastic Mathematics Championship Competition on Wednesday, November 4, 2015, from 8:30 a.m.?1:00 p.m. in the Perkins Student Center. This year, 57 high school students from 19 Berks County school districts are participating in the competition. In the event of inclement weather, the competition will take place on Thursday, November 5.
Every year, each of the 19 high schools in Berks County selects three seniors (or juniors who will be attending colleges after their junior year) to compete in this written exam. The students compete both individually and together as a school team.
Chancellor R. Keith Hillkirk will welcome the students to the college and Dr. Pradip Bandyopadhyay, Professor of Physics and Science Division Head, will join the students during the luncheon.
The student who places first will receive a plaque and $100 scholarship. The second-place student will receive a plaque and $75 scholarship. The next three highest-scoring students will each receive a plaque and $50 scholarship. The school that takes first place will receive a traveling trophy, a plaque, and four pewter lamps (one for each student and the coach). Two more plaques will be given to the schools that take the second and the third place. The overall team first, second, and third place are determined by the total points of each team member plus the team score, all four being equally weighted.
The five colleges in Berks County take turns hosting this annual event. As the host for the 2015 competition, the Math faculty at Penn State Berks has been working diligently to coordinate this event and to develop the contest questions. The contest questions may include algebra, trigonometry, probability, and limits. No derivatives or integrals will be on the test and no calculators are allowed.
For more information, contact Alice Shaparenko, Lecturer in Mathematics at Penn State Berks at 610-396-6370 or via e-mail at [email protected].