The Wabash Valley’s top middle school mathematicians will compete against the state’s best young problem solvers Saturday in the Indiana MATHCOUNTS challenge at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Fourteen students from the Vigo County School Corporation’s Honey Creek, Otter Creek and Woodrow Wilson middle schools will join four students from both the Terre Haute Christian Home Educators Association and Greencastle Middle School in representing west-central Indiana at the annual competition.

A total of 200 students from 43 Indiana schools are expected to compete for individual and team honors.

The day begins at 10 a.m. in Rose-Hulman’s Sports and Recreation Center, where students will answer problems in three rounds of competition, testing individual and team-working skills. The students with the four best scores will represent Indiana at the national MATHCOUNTS competition May 12-15 in Washington, D.C. (Indiana was the national team champion in 2015.)

The top 24 scorers will compete in a high-pressure, game show-style Countdown Round, beginning at 1:30 p.m. in Hatfield Hall Theater. The Countdown Round is open to the public.

 

The Indiana MATHCOUNTS competition is sponsored by the Indiana Society of Professional Engineers to promote mathematics development among youths throughout the state.

 

MATHCOUNTS was developed to improve math literacy in middle schools, and as a way to make parents, educators and the public aware of career opportunities in mathematics. The program impacts these mathletes at an age when they are formulating attitudes about math and technology, and encourages them to pursue careers in science, engineering and mathematics.