MathFest!

This past weekend Walton held its annual Elementary MathFest and, for the first time, Middle School MathFest! These brilliant students woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to face this tournament, and we were not disappointed!

Our elementary students competed in ciphering, computation, and problem solving. The middle school students competed in ciphering and a written test. Just for fun, our math team officers created the Estimation Games, in which each student makes their best estimate on ten obscure questions for a prize of candy or a Rubik's cube. Here are some of the questions we asked.  Can you guess the right answer?

What is the number of seconds (to the nearest tenth) it takes for a ball dropped from the tip of the Eiffel Tower (in Paris, France) to hit the ground?

What is the number of minutes since January 1, 1970 at 8:00 a.m. to the nearest minute?

What was the total number of words in the seven books of Harry Potter (by J.K. Rowling)?

Congratulations to our individual winners and teams! The results are posted at Walton Math Team under the Elementary and Middle School MathFest tabs.

Personally, I enjoyed seeing so many other young students passionate about learning and (especially) mathematics. Saturday was a blast, and I'm excited to see some of these familiar faces again next year!

--Aru

A New Season

Ah, a new year, a new school, a new math team. It seems like only yesterday that we were spending our Monday afternoons in Mrs. Speer and Mrs. West's rooms preparing for the upcoming tournament. Now, we'll be practicing in Walton's very own lecture hall! Exciting, right?

I've sort of joined this blog along with Mrs. Speer, so it's time I introduced myself. My name is Aru Mahendrakar, and I'm your Communications officer for the 2017-2018 school year. I'll be reporting on all of our competitions so y'all can stay updated on the adventures of the Walton Math Team!

Our first meeting is on August 14th to welcome our new and returning members! We have several fun and challenging competitions this year, and I'm sure everyone will be excited. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday! I have a good feeling about this year...

-- Aru Mahendrakar