Albany Area Math Circle students Andrew Ardito and Yipu Wang have placed among a select group of 150 students nationwide who have qualified for the USA Physics Olympiad semifinals this month. This is the third level of the competition--roughly speaking, it is the physics analogue to the USA Math Olympiad, so it is a very significant honor for them to reach this level. Andrew and Yipu are also veterans of the USAMO in past years, and in the first two levels of the physics olympiad competition, they have now demonstrated their ability to apply their outstanding problem solving skills to physics as well.
Twenty-four students from the physics olympiad semifinals will be named to the USA Physics Olympiad Team and will attend the special USA Physics Olympiad Training Camp at the University of Maryland in late May. Five of those students will ultimately be named to the USA Physics Olympiad Travel Team and will represent the US at the International Physics Olympiad this summer.
Andrew is an 11th grade homeschooler from Coxsackie. Yipu is a senior at Guilderland High School.
Good luck to both Andrew and Yipu!
Friday, March 13, 2009
Congratulations Matthew
Matthew Babbitt wrote a perfect paper with a score of 150 on the 2009 AMC10B Contest. He was also the "school winner" for Albany Area Math Circle's administraton of the even more challenging AMC12A contest with a 133.5 on that exam.
Matthew is a 13-year-old eighth grade homeschooler from Fort Edward New York, but he has already spent many hours "paying it forward" by generously sharing his gifts as he mentors younger and less experienced students each week. He works as a student coach with students from a number of Capital District middle schools in our middle school math circles, as well as coaching the homeschool MATHCOUNTS team and individually mentoring a very promising younger student.
Matthew is an outstanding example of the principle that sharing your mathematical understanding is a wonderful thing: the more you explain to others, the more you deepen your own understanding.
Best of luck to Matthew and all of the Albany Area Math Circle students taking the American Invitational Math Exam (AIME) next Tuesday.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Congratulations to AMC10/12 students
Congratulations to the following Albany Area Math Circle students who have qualified for the 2009 American Invitational Math Exam (AIME), based on AMC10/12 exams taken in February with Albany Area Math Circle and/or at their schools. (If you took the AMC contest at your school and have not yet notified us of your AIME qualification, please let us know so you can be added to the list.)
Andrew Ardito, homeschool, Coxsackie
Matthew Babbitt, homeschool, Fort Edward
David Bieber, Niskayuna High School
Heidi Chen, Emma Willard School, Troy
Ashley Cho, Emma Willard School, Troy
Wilson Cheung, Scotia-Glenville High School
Peixuan Guo, Bethlehem High School
Preston Law, homeschool, Clifton Park
Zagreb Mukerjee, Guilderland High School
Paul Rapoport, Albany Academy
Markus Salasoo, Niskayuna High School
Liz Simon, Guilderland High School
Schuyler Smith, homeschool, Ballston Lake
Wyatt Smith, homeschool, Ballston Lake
Felix Sun, Shenendahoah High School, Clifton Park
Yipu Wang, Guilderland High School
Jay White, homeschool, Schenectady
Jason Xu, Niskayuna High School
Congratulations are also due to the following students who achieved scores qualifying for young student achievement national recognition (90 or above on the AMC12 for students in 10th grade or below; 90 or above on the AMC10 for students in 8th grade or below):
AMC12 Young Student Honors:
(90 or above in 10th grade or below)
Gili Ruscak 6th grade Loudonville Elementary
Jien Ogawa 7th grade homeschool
Matthew Babbitt 8th grade homeschool, Fort Edward
Greg Hickey 8th grade, Shaker Junior High
Preston Law 8th grade, homeschool, Clifton Park
Zubin Mukerjee, 8th grade, Farnsworth Middle School
Jay White, 10th grade, homeschool, Schenectady
Jason Xu, 10th grade, Niskayuna High School
AMC10 Young Student Honors:
(90 or above in 8th grade or below)
Martin Schreiner, 6th grade, Van Antwerp Middle School
Isaac Malsky 7th grade, Farnsworth Middle School
Aniket Tolpadi, 7th grade, Iroquois Middle School
Matthew Babbitt, 8th grade, homeschool, Fort Edward
Preston Law, 8th grade, homeschool, Cliton Park
Elizabeth Parizh, 8th grade, Iroquois Middle School
As usual, the contests were extremely challenging and excellent learning experiences. Many of the students who did not qualify for AIME or for young student recognition came very close to doing so.
In past years, the lists of the New York State high scoring students have included many Albany Area Math Circle students, both overall and within grade levels, and this is likely to be the case again this year. Some especially noteworthy scores include those of our "school winners": AMC12A Matthew Babbitt, AMC10A Wyatt Smith, AMC12B Yipu Wang, AMC10B Matthew Babbitt, as well as the scores for Albany Area Math Circle's AMC12 "teams," Matthew, Andrew, and Jay on the A date, Yipu, Andrew, and David on the B date. A number of our members also scored high on tests taken at their schools.
Congratulations to all the students who participated in this very challenging contest, no matter what your score and whether you took it with us or at your school. Whether you qualified for AIME or honors or not, the greatest value of such an experience is the stimulus it can provide to the development of your problem-solving skills.
We would like to congratulate especially the many student coaches who have encouraged and mentored younger students! I think all of them enjoyed the learning experience. The middle school students who took the contest in previous years demonstrated impressive growth in their problem-solving abilities and their general enthusiasm for mathematical challenges. Our student coaches have been doing a fantastic job of helping younger students develop mathematically.
Andrew Ardito, homeschool, Coxsackie
Matthew Babbitt, homeschool, Fort Edward
David Bieber, Niskayuna High School
Heidi Chen, Emma Willard School, Troy
Ashley Cho, Emma Willard School, Troy
Wilson Cheung, Scotia-Glenville High School
Peixuan Guo, Bethlehem High School
Preston Law, homeschool, Clifton Park
Zagreb Mukerjee, Guilderland High School
Paul Rapoport, Albany Academy
Markus Salasoo, Niskayuna High School
Liz Simon, Guilderland High School
Schuyler Smith, homeschool, Ballston Lake
Wyatt Smith, homeschool, Ballston Lake
Felix Sun, Shenendahoah High School, Clifton Park
Yipu Wang, Guilderland High School
Jay White, homeschool, Schenectady
Jason Xu, Niskayuna High School
Congratulations are also due to the following students who achieved scores qualifying for young student achievement national recognition (90 or above on the AMC12 for students in 10th grade or below; 90 or above on the AMC10 for students in 8th grade or below):
AMC12 Young Student Honors:
(90 or above in 10th grade or below)
Gili Ruscak 6th grade Loudonville Elementary
Jien Ogawa 7th grade homeschool
Matthew Babbitt 8th grade homeschool, Fort Edward
Greg Hickey 8th grade, Shaker Junior High
Preston Law 8th grade, homeschool, Clifton Park
Zubin Mukerjee, 8th grade, Farnsworth Middle School
Jay White, 10th grade, homeschool, Schenectady
Jason Xu, 10th grade, Niskayuna High School
AMC10 Young Student Honors:
(90 or above in 8th grade or below)
Martin Schreiner, 6th grade, Van Antwerp Middle School
Isaac Malsky 7th grade, Farnsworth Middle School
Aniket Tolpadi, 7th grade, Iroquois Middle School
Matthew Babbitt, 8th grade, homeschool, Fort Edward
Preston Law, 8th grade, homeschool, Cliton Park
Elizabeth Parizh, 8th grade, Iroquois Middle School
As usual, the contests were extremely challenging and excellent learning experiences. Many of the students who did not qualify for AIME or for young student recognition came very close to doing so.
In past years, the lists of the New York State high scoring students have included many Albany Area Math Circle students, both overall and within grade levels, and this is likely to be the case again this year. Some especially noteworthy scores include those of our "school winners": AMC12A Matthew Babbitt, AMC10A Wyatt Smith, AMC12B Yipu Wang, AMC10B Matthew Babbitt, as well as the scores for Albany Area Math Circle's AMC12 "teams," Matthew, Andrew, and Jay on the A date, Yipu, Andrew, and David on the B date. A number of our members also scored high on tests taken at their schools.
Congratulations to all the students who participated in this very challenging contest, no matter what your score and whether you took it with us or at your school. Whether you qualified for AIME or honors or not, the greatest value of such an experience is the stimulus it can provide to the development of your problem-solving skills.
We would like to congratulate especially the many student coaches who have encouraged and mentored younger students! I think all of them enjoyed the learning experience. The middle school students who took the contest in previous years demonstrated impressive growth in their problem-solving abilities and their general enthusiasm for mathematical challenges. Our student coaches have been doing a fantastic job of helping younger students develop mathematically.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Time to sign up for NYSML
What's NYSML? It rhymes with "dismal" and "abysmal," but it is anything BUT dismal or abysmal.
If you loved MATHCOUNTS in middle school, and you're wondering if there's "life after MATHCOUNTS" in high school, you'll probably like NYSML even more.
It's like a souped-up version of state MATHCOUNTS, but bigger and better, because it's for high school students from all over the New York State, the teams are bigger, and it has a much longer tradition going back many more years than MATHCOUNTS! There are usually about 30 teams competing with 15 students on each team, so 450 math-loving students come together each year at NYSML. The NYSML tradition goes all the way back to 1973.
The first parts of the contest are the team and power rounds, when the whole team of 15 gets a whole classroom all to itself to work together collaboratively for 20 minutes on the team round and then an hour on the power round. Then all the students move into the gym where desks are laid out in rows of 15 for the individual contest problems (five pairs of problems with 10 minutes to work on each pair of problems.) Then lunch and hanging out with other math loving kindred spirits from all over the state, talking over the morning's problems. Then RELAYS!!! Then the wackiest buzz round that the organizers can concoct. Then individual tiebreakers (if necessary) and awards. Then a happy drive home in a carpool with some of your teammates, talking over the "problems that got away."
You can see more information and photos of the fun at past NYSML's here. Note that NYSML is now a "calculator-free zone." Starting in 2009, students may not use calculators in any part of NYSML, so leave your calculators at home!
This year's NYSML will take place on Saturday April 25, 2009, at John Jay Senior High School in Hopewell Junction NY (near Poughkeepsie.)
Albany Area Math Circle has sent teams to NYSML almost every year since 2002. NYSML is the premier statewide math contest for high school students in New York, and is considered a model for other contests nationwide. Albany Area Math Circle teams have done very well over the years, capturing statewide B division championships in 2002, 2005, and 2006, and our A team took 3rd place in the highly competitive A division in 2007. (The photo above shows our 2006 Albany Area Math Circle team celebrating their B-division championship.)
Albany Area Math Circle students who wish to participate in NYSML should go to this page for more information about how to sign up.
http://sites.google.com/site/mathcircle/math-contest-info/nysml-signup
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Chapter MATHCOUNTS congratulations!
Today's Chapter MATHCOUNTS competition had the toughest competitive field I have seen over a dozen years of attending chapter MATHCOUNTS competitions, thanks in part to the excellent coaching of so many teams by so many excellent AAMC student coaches.
The top three individuals on writtens Greg Hickey (#1), Eric Wu (#2), and Zubin Mukerjee (#3), as well as the Countdown oral round winner, Aniket Tolpadi, were all coached by AAMC student coaches.
Nine out of the top 12 students in the Countdown Round at today's MATHCOUNTS Chapter Competition were also students coached by Albany Area Math Circle student coaches.
The top six teams in the chapter were all either coached by AAMC student coaches or included individual students coached by AAMC student coaches.
The heeg team placed sixth in the team standings, and had two members in the top 20: Preston Law and Jien Ogawa. Preston placed among the top 6 individuals on writtens and will advance to state as an individual. AAMC members Zagreb Mukerjee and Matthew Babbitt have been coaching the heeg team, and several of their members also attend the Monday evening middle school math circle that Zagreb and Matt have been leading.
The Van Antwerp team placed fifth in the team standings. They had a perfect team round and team member Bridget Schreiner placed 10th on the written and participated in the countdown. AAMC member Dave Bieber has been coaching their team, several of whose members also attend either the Monday evening math circle and/or the Friday afternoon middle school math circle.
The Iroquois team placed fourth in the team standings. They also had a perfect team round and team members Elizabeth Parizh and Aniket Tolpadi both made the top 12 Countdown Round. Both Elizabeth and Aniket made the semifinals of Countdown, and Aniket ultimately won the entire countdown. Elizabeth and Aniket as well as several of their teammates are members of the Friday afternoon middle school math circle, and AAMC member Anagha Tolpadi coached the entire Iroquois team.
The Shaker team placed third in the team standings, had a perfect team round, and the entire team will advance to state. Team member Greg Hickey, a member of our Friday afternoon middle school math circle. coached by Andrew Ardito, won first place on the written contest. Team member Gili Ruszak, a member of the Monday evening middle school math circle, placed 13th on writtens, narrowly missing out on countdown due to tiebreaks. Gili's accomplishments are all the more remarkable because she is only a sixth grader.
The Acadia team (coached by AAMC students Felix Sun and Eric Wang) placed second in the team standings and the entire team will advance to state. The entire team has also been attending Friday afternoon middle school math circle. Team member Eric Wu ranked second on the writtens, and his teammates Jessica and Troy Wang ranked 7th and 11th, respectively, on the writtens.
The Farnsworth team placed first in the team standings and the entire team will advance to state. Farnsworth's delegation included Zubin Mukerjee, a member of the Monday night middle school math circle and Isaac Malsky, a member of the Friday afternoon middle school math circle. Zubin Mukerjee led the team to their team championship victory with a third place individual rank on writtens.
Other exciting notes: there was a better representation of girls among the top students than at any time I can remember over the past decade. In many years, there have been 0, 1 or 2 girls in the Countdown Round. This year, there were four girls in the Countdown and at least 7 girls among the top 20! At least five of those were coached by Albany Area Math Circle students.
Congratulations to all the students and coaches who participated in this extremely challenging event. All of us coaches know how easy it is to misread a question under time pressure, to write down the "right answer to the wrong question," to make a problem harder than it was intended to be, and dozens of other pitfalls of competition..
Please know that we are proud of all who prepared and tried hard in this competition---we congratulate those who advanced to state and/or brought home trophies, but the "ultimate trophy" is the development of problem solving skills we have seen among all the students who have been inspired and coached by our high school student coaches!
With such a strong competitive field at chapter MATHCOUNTS, it is inevitable that many exceptionally strong and well-prepared students will be unable to participate in the state MATHCOUNTS competition,.
I hope that our student coaches can encourage our many strong middle school students, both those advancing and those not advancing, by telling them about the many exciting high school math contest opportunities, which are much more broadly open than state and national MATHCOUNTS.
In particular, I hope that our AAMC student coaches will encourage and inspire many of the strong middle school students who are ready for greater challenges to accompany us on a B-team to NYSML on April 25, so they can get a small taste of the excitement that lies ahead.
The top three individuals on writtens Greg Hickey (#1), Eric Wu (#2), and Zubin Mukerjee (#3), as well as the Countdown oral round winner, Aniket Tolpadi, were all coached by AAMC student coaches.
Nine out of the top 12 students in the Countdown Round at today's MATHCOUNTS Chapter Competition were also students coached by Albany Area Math Circle student coaches.
The top six teams in the chapter were all either coached by AAMC student coaches or included individual students coached by AAMC student coaches.
The heeg team placed sixth in the team standings, and had two members in the top 20: Preston Law and Jien Ogawa. Preston placed among the top 6 individuals on writtens and will advance to state as an individual. AAMC members Zagreb Mukerjee and Matthew Babbitt have been coaching the heeg team, and several of their members also attend the Monday evening middle school math circle that Zagreb and Matt have been leading.
The Van Antwerp team placed fifth in the team standings. They had a perfect team round and team member Bridget Schreiner placed 10th on the written and participated in the countdown. AAMC member Dave Bieber has been coaching their team, several of whose members also attend either the Monday evening math circle and/or the Friday afternoon middle school math circle.
The Iroquois team placed fourth in the team standings. They also had a perfect team round and team members Elizabeth Parizh and Aniket Tolpadi both made the top 12 Countdown Round. Both Elizabeth and Aniket made the semifinals of Countdown, and Aniket ultimately won the entire countdown. Elizabeth and Aniket as well as several of their teammates are members of the Friday afternoon middle school math circle, and AAMC member Anagha Tolpadi coached the entire Iroquois team.
The Shaker team placed third in the team standings, had a perfect team round, and the entire team will advance to state. Team member Greg Hickey, a member of our Friday afternoon middle school math circle. coached by Andrew Ardito, won first place on the written contest. Team member Gili Ruszak, a member of the Monday evening middle school math circle, placed 13th on writtens, narrowly missing out on countdown due to tiebreaks. Gili's accomplishments are all the more remarkable because she is only a sixth grader.
The Acadia team (coached by AAMC students Felix Sun and Eric Wang) placed second in the team standings and the entire team will advance to state. The entire team has also been attending Friday afternoon middle school math circle. Team member Eric Wu ranked second on the writtens, and his teammates Jessica and Troy Wang ranked 7th and 11th, respectively, on the writtens.
The Farnsworth team placed first in the team standings and the entire team will advance to state. Farnsworth's delegation included Zubin Mukerjee, a member of the Monday night middle school math circle and Isaac Malsky, a member of the Friday afternoon middle school math circle. Zubin Mukerjee led the team to their team championship victory with a third place individual rank on writtens.
Other exciting notes: there was a better representation of girls among the top students than at any time I can remember over the past decade. In many years, there have been 0, 1 or 2 girls in the Countdown Round. This year, there were four girls in the Countdown and at least 7 girls among the top 20! At least five of those were coached by Albany Area Math Circle students.
Congratulations to all the students and coaches who participated in this extremely challenging event. All of us coaches know how easy it is to misread a question under time pressure, to write down the "right answer to the wrong question," to make a problem harder than it was intended to be, and dozens of other pitfalls of competition..
Please know that we are proud of all who prepared and tried hard in this competition---we congratulate those who advanced to state and/or brought home trophies, but the "ultimate trophy" is the development of problem solving skills we have seen among all the students who have been inspired and coached by our high school student coaches!
With such a strong competitive field at chapter MATHCOUNTS, it is inevitable that many exceptionally strong and well-prepared students will be unable to participate in the state MATHCOUNTS competition,.
I hope that our student coaches can encourage our many strong middle school students, both those advancing and those not advancing, by telling them about the many exciting high school math contest opportunities, which are much more broadly open than state and national MATHCOUNTS.
In particular, I hope that our AAMC student coaches will encourage and inspire many of the strong middle school students who are ready for greater challenges to accompany us on a B-team to NYSML on April 25, so they can get a small taste of the excitement that lies ahead.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Physics olympiad congratulations!
Three students from Albany Area Math Circle, Andrew Ardito, Dave Bieber, and Yipu Wang, have placed on the top 400 students national list from the first level of the USA Physics Olympiad contest they took in January along with 4,000 strong physics students from all over the country.
Andrew, Dave, and Yipu will now advance to the next level of physics olympiad contest this Saturday. This is the second step in a sequence of contests leading to selection of the 24 students who will constitute the USA Physics Olympiad team, which will train at the University of Maryland in late May. At the conclusion of that training camp, five of those 24 will be designated as members of the traveling team that will represent the USA at the 2009 International Physics Olympiad to be held in Merida Mexico this summer.
Good luck to Andrew, Dave, and Yipu on Saturday!
Andrew, Dave, and Yipu will now advance to the next level of physics olympiad contest this Saturday. This is the second step in a sequence of contests leading to selection of the 24 students who will constitute the USA Physics Olympiad team, which will train at the University of Maryland in late May. At the conclusion of that training camp, five of those 24 will be designated as members of the traveling team that will represent the USA at the 2009 International Physics Olympiad to be held in Merida Mexico this summer.
Good luck to Andrew, Dave, and Yipu on Saturday!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
AAMC team takes 3rd place overall in Princeton U Math Competition A division!
Congratulations to our Albany Area Math Circle and the students who participated at the Princeton University Mathematics Competition (PUMaC) yesterday: the picture above shows team members Wilson Cheung, Matthew Babbitt, Andrew Ardito, Schuyler Smith, Yipu Wang, Dave Bieber, and Gurtej Kanwar. Team member Wyatt Smith is missing from the photo.
The Princeton competition draws participants from all over the country and has been VERY competitive historically. This makes the following excellent individual and team results all the more exciting and fun to announce!
Individual honors went to Schuyler Smith (10th place combinatorics) and Andrew Ardito (4th place number theory, 6th place combinatorics, 5th place overall.)
Team honors were: 4th Place Power Round, 3rd Place Team Round Division A, and 3rd Place Overall Team Division A.
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