Schools compete in math contest

The competitors in the gym at Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale waited intently for the starting buzzer. But instead of a sports contest, students sat at tables, preparing to solve math problems.

Nassau County's third annual Math Olympiads for seventh- and eighth-graders attracted 165 budding geniuses Tuesday.

The middle school students, solving problems that many adults probably would find difficult, bonded with whiz kids from other schools. Top competitors went home with trophies.

"There are great students out there who love math," said Andrea Nordquist, who teaches the subject at the K-8 St. Martin de Porres Marianist School in Uniondale and organized the competition. "There are a lot of kids who can't do sports and don't feel they can contribute to their schools."

The tournament, she said, "builds team spirit and school spirit."

Thirty-three five-member teams from 26 schools, public and private, took part. The competition was divided into three sections: individual, team and "mixed-up" team, in which students from different schools joined forces.

Among the easier questions: "January 1, 2012, falls on a Sunday. What day of the week does the 100th day of 2012 fall on?" (Answer: Monday).

Among the more difficult: "The coordinates of the vertices of quadrilateral ABCD are A (-4,-3), B (4,2), C (2,-2) and D (6,-5). What is the area of quadrilateral ABCD?" (Answer: 22. Don't even ask how it's solved.)

For David Shaker, 12, a seventh-grader from Baldwin who attends St. Martin de Porres, competing in Tuesday's event was little short of ecstasy.

"It's great," he said. "It's a place where you are not judged negatively for loving math.

"Everything in life revolves around math," he added. "The word 'nerd' should be removed from every dictionary in the world."

Tiger Gao, 13, an eighth-grader at Weber Middle School in Port Washington who got all 10 answers right in an early individual round, called it "a great experience . . . Everyone should try it at least once."

Karen Raichoudhury, an enrichment teacher at Weber, said the Port Washington school district will make its participating students feel even more special by honoring them at an upcoming Board of Education meeting.

Nordquist said the tournament started with 22 teams and -- after making some quick mental calculations -- said the ranks have increased by one-third in three years.

The event is sponsored by the Museum of Mathematics, which is under construction in Manhattan and due to open this year.

Tuesday's winners: first place, New Hyde Park Memorial Middle School; second, Weber Middle School; third and fourth, team "B" and team "A", respectively, from Buckley Country Day School in Roslyn; and fifth, Mattlin Middle School in Plainview.