Math Modeling is a course offered at Mass Academy that is taught by Mrs. Burns. Through the course, we learn about different interesting mathematical topics, theorems, and ideas. We then apply what we learn in problems that model real-world problems and apply In addition to this, we also participate in numerous math competitions such as The High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling (HiMCM), and The New England Math League Competitions (NEML).
As mentioned before, a large part of the Math Modeling curriculum is the competitions we participate in. One such competition is the Modeling the Future Challenge (MtFC). Through this competition, groups of students learn about the actuarial process, which is a set of methodologies that help determine the risk associated with a specific problem. My group included Kayla, Abby, Kruthi, and Charuvi. We just got past phase 1 of the competition and finished learning about the actuarial process. Currently, we are drafting a proposal for our project. To the right is a PDF of the Quest Scenarios we completed for Phase 1, which goes through the actuarial process for an example ski resort situation and also includes our brainstorming for our project!
The main large projects that we completed as a part of the class (and not part of a competition) are the Problems of the Week (POW). One POW that we completed in class was the Happy Birthday POW, in which we were tasked to create a mathematical model that, when used, allows someone to figure out which day of the week they were born depending on their date of birth. Overall, this was a cool project that allowed us to apply the topics we learned in class, such as modulus, in a real-world situation. To the left is our writeup for this project!