2007 Orange County MATHCOUNTS Held at UCI

2007 Orange County MATHCOUNTS was held on February 17, 2007 at Crawford Hall of University of California, Irvine.  19 schools and 160 middle school mathletes participated in this all-day events.  In the morning, the students participated in three round of competitions to determine the placement of top teams and individuals.

In the afternoon, Dr. Natalia Komarova, a mathematics professor at UCI Department of Mathematics, presented a mini-lecture on Mathematics Can Cure: Understanding Cancer in a New Way.  She described her research on how to use mathematics to identify effective drug combinations that can treat cancer, HIV, and other ills.

Top 16 students in the written round advanced to the exciting countdown round in a tournament style with two mathletes compete against each other to see who can solve the problems faster.  In many cases, they can produce a correct answer before the announcer finishing reading the problem!

St. Margaret's Episcopal School of San Juan Capistrano, Rancho San Joaquin Middle School of Irvine, and Kraemer Middle School of Placentia finished as top three teams and will represent Orange County to compete in the California MATHCOUNTS on March 17, 2007.  Johnny Li of St. Margaret's Episcopal School is the winner of both countdown and individual events.  For complete results, see 2007 Orange County MATHCOUNTS results.

Avid Academy students are well represented at this events.  30 Avid students participated with 12 different school teams.  They claimed 5 of the top 16 spots in individual competition.  Six Avid students will compete in the California State MATHCOUNTS.