Twenty-four students from High School South Math Club participated in a recent Princeton University Mathematics Competition. The Pirates A team placed fifth in Division A, the best showing for a local team in the seven-year history of the event; and the Pirates B2 team placed 10th in Division B. The competition, organized by Princeton University undergraduates, included close to 70 teams from all over the east coast and as far away as Bulgaria and China.
The Pirates A mathletes include seniors Apoorva Shah and Alexander Clifton; Chaitanya Asawa, a junior; and sophomores Charlie Gu, Bill Yan Huang, Kevin Li, Jason Shi, and Aleck Zhao.
Pirates B2 team members include seniors Samier Merchant and Aayush Visaria; sophomore David Geng; and freshmen Dhruva J. Byrapatna, Bharath Jaladi, William Jiao, Mrigank Saksena, and Jung Joo Suh.
The Pirates B1 mathletes include seniors Sam Lorenz, Michael Soskind, and Ashwin Subramanian; Bo Yin, a junior; sophomores Abhinav Girish and Brian Qiu; and freshmen Anish Visaria and Lewis Wang.
“In teams of eight, the competitors worked on the Power Round in the week leading up to the competition,” says Clifton, the president of the Math Club. “This consists of a series of proof problems relating to a common theme — algebraic numbers.” Pirates A placed fifth in Division A and Pirates B2 placed eighth in Division B in this part of the competition. “The onsite Team Round was a math crossword in which the team only had 20 minutes to complete,” says Clifton. “The purpose was to enter the answers into a crossword with one digit per space — but the answers could go in three directions.”
Individually, each competitor had to choose two subject tests of algebra, combinatorics, geometry, and number theory. Five students ranked in the top 10 on at least one subject test and qualified for the individual finals. They are Alexander Clifton (2nd Algebra A, 8th Combinatorics A), David Geng (4th Algebra B), Bill Yan Huang (6th Combinatorics A), Kevin Li (8th Geometry A), and Jung Joo Suh (8th Algebra B, 9th Geometry B). Individual scores also counted toward the overall team ranking.
The individual finals, three proof problems to be solved in one hour, were used in determining the overall individual rankings. Jung Joo Suh placed third in Division B and Alexander Clifton placed eighth in Division A. Brian Qiu placed second in the Rubik’s Cube mini event.
“The students prepared together for the competition by working on practice problems sent out during the week and meeting to discuss after school,” says Clifton. Visit pumac.princeton.edu for more information.
