This course goes beyond the traditional high school mathematics curriculum by engaging us in open-ended problem solving, computer simulations, and collaborative work. We use a mathematical approach to model real-world situations through the application of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and statistics. In the course of the year, we participate in various math competitions such as the New England Mathematics League (NEML), High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling (HiMCM), and Modeling the Future Challenge (MTFC).
The Modeling the Future Challenge is a real-world competition for high school students combining math modeling, data analysis,
and risk management into one exciting challenge! To compete, we conduct our own research project modeling real-world data
to analyze risks and make recommendations to companies, industry groups, governments, or organizations.
To start the challenge, we divided into groups of five and decided upon our topic. My group consists of me, David, Ayaan, Noah,
and Ashwin and our topic involves identifying and mitigating the risks of school shootings in the United States in order to protect
students. I'm enjoying this project a lot because it's a great opportunity to collaborate with other students and have fun
while still working towards a significant and relevant conclusion. Here was our project proposal.
In math modeling, we often have problems of the week which are completed in groups and later peer assessed. The birthday POW involves using just a list of famous birthdays, their corresponding days of the week, and a calendar for the current month to develop a way to find the day of a week a person was born on from the date given. The person finding the day of the week also only has access to a four-function calculator and does not have an extensive math background. This assignment was fun because our group did a great job working together and contributing to our final product.