Math Modeling

Teacher: Mrs. Burns

No matter one's previous math experience, one will always find something new to learn in Math Modeling. Through problem sets and challenge problems, this course forces you to think about math in a way unlike you ever have before. Although the math is not easy, these difficulties are made possible by the truly collaborative environment where every student is encouraged to share their problem solving strategies.

Additionally, concepts learned in Math Modeling have countless cross-curricular applications.

Current Projects

HiMCM

COMAP’s High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling (HiMCM) is an annual 2-week math modeling competition. Each year, students are presented with two open-ended problems. Participants choose one problem, and then create a model to solve it. The contest is concluded with a 25 paper, detailing the team’s strategy and solution.

My team (Claire, Phia, Tim) selected the dandelion problem. We made this decision because we believed that there was more room for us to show our math modeling skills. There were two major parts to this problem. Firstly, my team had to create a model to predict the spread of a single dandelion over a one-hectare plot of land over the course of a year. This model had to take into account the various climatic conditions that affect dandelion growth. For the second task, my team needed to make a mathematical model to determine the "impact factor" of any invasive species. This was based on the characteristics of the invasive plants and the degree of harm they inflict on humans and the environment.

Over the course of three days, we poured everything we had into creating our model, and we are excited to participate again next year.

In February, the contest results will be released. Check back then to see our solution.

Unable to display PDF file? Download the problem instead.

Birthday POW

In A-Term, groups completed the Birthday Problem of the Week. For this challenge, teams had to create a model that would allow users to find the day of the week for any historical or future date between 1901 and 2100.

My team was able to use tools that we had learned in the Shuffling problem set such as modulus and pattern recognition. Our process began by finding the first day of 1901. Then, we observed calendar cycles and found that we were then directly able to calculate the first day of the target year. From there, we looked at what number day of the year the target date was. This allowed us to find the day of the week of the target day!

Below is our solution, see if you can find the day you were born on!

Unable to display PDF file? Download the write-up instead.