Sixteen students from High School South Math Club participated in the recent Harvard-MIT Math Tournament. The Pirates A team placed 10th overall in a field of 95 teams from China, Canada, and the United States. Mathletes from the Pirate A team included Chaitanya Asawa, Alexander Clifton, Charlie Gu, Bill Yan Huang, Kevin Li, Apoorva Shah, Jason Shi, and Jung Joo Suh.
Pirates B team included Dhruva J. Byrapatna, David Geng, Bharath Jaladi, William Jiao, Ishan Mazumdar, Ashwin Subramanian, Aayush Visaria, and Aleck Zhao. The students prepared for the team parts of the competition after school and on weekends at the library by doing rounds from previous years.
Each contestant took three 50-minute subject exams in algebra, geometry, and combinatorics. Point values for the questions were determined based on the number of competitors who solved the question.
In teams of eight, the competitors worked on the Team Round and the Guts Round. The Team Round, in which Pirates A finished 13th, consisted of 10 proof questions in one hour. The Guts Round consisted of teams pacing themselves through sets of four questions in 80 minutes, getting a new set whenever they submitted their answers. Results of the Guts Round were displayed on a real-time scoreboard in the packed auditorium. When the final updates were completed, Pirates A was in ninth place.
Three students placed in the top 50 in at least one subject test. In algebra, Kevin Li was 40th and Jung Joo Suh was 49th. In combinatorics, Alexander Clifton was eighth and Kevin Li was 41st. In the overall individual standings, combining all three subjects, Kevin Li placed 34th and qualified for the inaugural Harvard-MIT Invitational Competition, a proof test in April. Alexander Clifton and Jason Shi also placed in the top 100.
Visit hmmt.mit.edu for information.
