By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
The winning entry in Hillsborough High School’s annual The Usefulness Of Mathematics as Expressed Through the Arts (TUOMETA) contest part of the school’s April is Math Month activities started over a poker game, and was recorded in student Kevin Titus’ basement using a laptop webcam.
”It’s just a bunch of random little things that involve math,” Marcus Peschinski, one of the four sophomores who wrote and recorded the song, said. “We got together to play poker on a Friday and we created the song.”
”We just brainstormed how we used math in everyday life,” Marg Rajpara, another of the sophomores, said. “We wanted it to be funny and comical and kind of an upbeat tune.”
Their project went through several revisions because at first, they wanted to make a documentary, but technical problems prevented them from transferring the movie.
The final song, titled “Let Math Live” by the fourth member of the group, Michael Cong, netted the four $60 each and extra credit in their math class.
”It’s kind of acoustic and pop,” Marcus said. “It’s got a catchy beat. You could dance to it.”
The contest has students express a mathematical idea through an art project, or demonstrate a use of math in the arts, Maria Szijj, the high school’s math supervisor said.
Art teacher Lynn Mound, English teacher Joanne Gordon, and math teacher Jane Staats judged the contest entries, and helped select the first-, second-, and third- place winners.
”The criteria is what is the mathematical idea that is used and how is that applied,” Dr. Szijj said. “And then there is the craftsmanship (of the project.”
Entering the contest is optional, and, for some students, like second-place winners Ryan MacCrea and Ryan Hicks, the extra credit they get in their math class provides ample incentive.
Ryan and Ryan created a one-half inch to 1-foot scale model of a house, with interior and exterior measurements.
”We kind of needed the extra credit, and I’ve taken two architecture classes here at the high school so I knew how to do it,” Ryan MacCrea said. “We both did the plans, threw in dimensions, gave it a scale, drew it, and then put it on a computer program.”
”In order for it to be a truly functioning house, we went through and said, ‘OK, we can throw a bathroom in here, and a wall in there,’” he added. “It made it a lot more normal.”
In addition to TUOMETA contest, the school offers a problem-solving contest that has students answering several math problems a week. The students who answer the problems correctly are entered in a raffle for various prizes, Dr. Szijj said.
The contest problems involve subjects covered on the High School Proficiency Assessment, including algebra, geometry, probability and reasoning strategies.
”Like the HSPA, it’s one question for all (participants), and there’s no differentiation in abilities,” Dr. Szijj said. “I have the faculty members asking about it. People will ask me what was the answer to that problem.”
The students winning the math problem contest were Lauryn Rohrbach, Calantha Yan, Jesse DiBlasio, Rich Connor, Sarah Amendolare, Cory O’Donohue, Morgan Mastrillo, J.D. Friscia, Keith Tauscher, and Nick Sutley.
The school also has a button design contest, which has students creating a math-themed design for the school’s teachers to wear during the following year’s math month. The buttons are judged on how the design related to teaching and math education, as well as how the button looks, Dr. Szijj said.
”It can’t be too busy because you have to be able to see it,” she said.
Freshman Kelly Wishard considered those factors when creating the design that won the contest, though she was unaware of the judging criteria.
”I didn’t want to use too many numbers because it would be too busy,” Kelly said. “There are so many things you need to use for math, like rulers and calculators. I thought I could come up with a catchy little slogan to make with the (math) tools.”
Kelly’s slogan was straightforward “Math Education Is Fun,” which she hopes shows that math is not complicated or hard, she said. However, she did enter the contest because of the extra credit she would receive for submitting a design.
”Extra credit was a motivating factor,” Kelly said. “In geometry, those few extra points could help you.”
