Pictured above are awards won by Mathcounts in the past.
We Can Always Count on Math Counts!
Math is perhaps the most important subject in school. There’s so many things you can do with math, physics, engineering and much much more. This is why it may not be surprising to hear that our school has an entire club dedicated to math. It’s called Math Counts and it’s run by Mr. Sampson. Today I interviewed him on what the club does and what it has to offer.
Q: When did you start running Mathcounts?
Mr. Sampson: I started running Mathcounts in 2007.
Q: Why should someone join Mathcounts?
Mr. Sampson: Anyone interested in seeing some challenging questions and practicing them or competing is welcome to join.
Q: What do you do in Math Counts?
Mr. Sampson: We hand out booklets which help us prepare for the competitions and there's five competitions on the computer or in person that we take part in. We also have some fun, do some challenges and games.
Q: What are some of the names of the competitions you’ve gone to?
Mr. Sampson: We compete in competitions like Mathelon, Math Counts and Pie Five. Those are the in person ones, the online competitions are Math Con (however the finals for that are in Chicago), Math League and AMC 8 and AMC 10.
Q: How many competitions have you won?
Mr. Sampson: Well, win is relative. We’ve been successful with many of the competitions, and have been lucky enough to make it to states almost every year. Although we have missed three since 2007. But every other year we’ve been one, two or three in Queens.
Thank you to Mr. Sampson for doing this interview! It’s amazing that we’ve done so well in these competitions and I'm sure he helped with that. I hope this motivated all of you to consider doing Math Counts! If you are interested you can contact Mr. Sampson at Room 201.