Bard Math Circle FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Despite a surprise snowstorm that made travel difficult, 23 local high school and middle school students at participated in the 15th annual American Mathematics Contest 10 at Bard College. The contest was held on Wednesday, February 19, 2014. The students competed for local, regional and national student and school awards. The contest, which covers high school mathematics, is given in participating schools. Its purpose is to spur interest in mathematics and develop talent through the excitement of friendly competition at problem solving in a timed format. In 2013, over 220,000 students from 4,200 schools participated in the AMC 10 & AMC 12 contest. This is the first year that the AMC 10 contest has been offered at Bard College, as a Bard Math Circle program, and there are plans to also offer the AMC 12 contest next year.
The Bard Math Circle, founded in 2007 by Bard math professors Japheth Wood and Lauren Rose, as well as undergraduates in Bard’s Trustee Leader Scholars program, offers library-based math enrichment programs for middle school and upper elementary school students, as well as the AMC and Purple Comet math competitions. Prof. Japheth Wood says the Bard Math Circle is about generating excitement for mathematics, inspiring students to excel, and intends to grow the pre-college math community in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Bard College, an undergraduate liberal arts college with a strong math department, has undergraduate math majors who are eager to share their passion for mathematics with younger students. This makes Bard the perfect epicenter for a growing math community for the Mid-Hudson Valley.
According to Prof. Steven Dunbar, who serves as Director of the American Mathematics Competitions, the AMC 12 (first offered in 1950), and the AMC 10 (first offered in 2000), are part of a series of contests sponsored each year by The Mathematical Association of America, through their program, the American Mathematics Competitions. The AMC offers the only math competition series in the country leading to the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO), the United States of American Junior Mathematical Olympiad (USAJMO) and the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (MOSP). From this group of students, the AMC sends the highly competitive USA Team to the prestigious annual International Mathematical Olympiad.
The AMC program includes:
- American Mathematics Contest 8 (AMC8) for Grades 6- 8 in November
- American Mathematics Contest 10 (AMC 10) for Grades 10 & below, 2 test dates in February
- American Mathematics Contest 12 (AMC 12) for Grades 12 & below, 2 test dates in February
- American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) for all who qualify, 2 dates in March-April
- USA Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) for all who qualify, late-April
- USA Junior Mathematical Olympiad (USAJMO) for all who qualify, late-April
- Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (MOSP), Qualify thru USAMO, in June
- International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), top six from USAMO, MOSP, in July
The AMC is located at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and receives support from the Akamai Foundation, Academy of Applied Sciences, American Institute of Mathematics, American Mathematical Association of Two Year Colleges, American Mathematical Society, American Statistical Association, Art of Problem Solving, Association for Symbolic Logic, Awesome Math, Casualty Actuarial Society, the D.E. Shaw Group, Idea Math, Jane Street Capital, Math for America, Math Training Center, Mu Alpha Theta, Andy and Laurie Okun, Pi Mu Epsilon, the Society for Industrial and Applied Math, and W.H. Freeman. The Contests are given across the U.S.A., Canada, and in many schools abroad.
Details concerning the 2014 AMC 10/12 contests for High School, as well as the rest of AMC’s programs are available on the AMC web site: maa.org/math-competitions
For further information contact the AMC — email: amcinfo@maa.org, telephone: 800-527-3690.
For further information about the AMC and other programs run by the Bard Math Circle at Bard College — bardmathcircle@gmail.com and bardmathcircle.org.
