Tyrone High School’s Math Competition team participated in their first meet at the AMC 12 Math Competition at Juniata College in Huntingdon on February 5, 2020.  Five students, Aden McCracken, Emily Detwiler, Sarah Hoover, Miranda Goodman, and Wade Hendrickson, represented Tyrone.

The AMC 10 and AMC 12 are sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America.  Both are 25-question, 75-minute, multiple-choice examinations designed to promote the development and enhancement of problem-solving skills. The AMC 10 is for students in 10th grade and below, and covers the high school curriculum up to 10th grade.

The competition included numerous questions involving different kinds of math subjects including and not limited to Algebra, Geometry, Statistics, PreCalculus, and Trigonometry.

The competitors were given 25 randomly chosen math questions to solve within their 75-minute time goal. The placement of teams was then decided based on which teams answered the most questions correctly at the end of the 75 minutes.

According to the website for the AMC Math Competitions, the AMC provides an opportunity for high school students to develop positive attitudes towards analytical thinking and mathematics that can assist in future careers. The AMC 10/12 is the first in a series of competitions that eventually lead all the way to the International Mathematical Olympiad.

There was also a lecture by a Juniata math professor Dr. Melissa Innerst. Her talk was titled “How to Always Win at Dice,” which involved using Efron dice.  The talk involved statistics and some of the students are in DE Statistics, so they were in tune with the project since they had covered similar concepts in class.

The students who participated in the competition were given a commemorative t-shirt along with breakfast and lunch.

While no Tyrone students won awards this time, Mrs. Michelle Marasco, the teacher representative for the math competition team, was pleased with their performance.

“Our students really enjoyed their experience at Juniata and hope to attend future mathematics competitions this year,” said Tyrone math teacher Michele Marasco, who sponsored the Tyrone team.