Math at The Beach Competes

CSULB Students compete in the 2006 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition and CSULB hosts southern California High School Students in Math Day at the Beach competition.

2006 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition

CSULB competed at the 2006 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. This is the oldest, most famous, and most prestigious intercollegiate mathematics competition. The competition took place on December 2, 2006, but the scores have just now been released.

A total of 3640 students from 508 colleges and universities in Canada and the United States participated in this competition. There were teams from 402 institutions. (A team consists of three students, working independently of each other.)

Out of these 402 teams, CSULB ranked 78th. This was our best finish ever. The team consisted of senior mathematics major Joshua Lampkins, freshman biochemistry major Sarav Patel, and junior mathematics major M. Tip Phaovibul. A total of 7 CSULB students participated.

Joshua Lampkins ranked 390th. This is the fourth-best individual result for a CSULB student since 1999. Joshua was one of only 4 students from any CSU ranking in the top 500. There were two from San Jose State and one from Cal Poly Pomona. The list of the top 500 students included only 8 from any University of California - 5 from Berkeley and one each from Davis, Santa Barbara, and UCLA.

Math Day at The Beach

On March 17, 2007 the eighth annual Math Day at the Beach was hosted by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Math Day at the Beach, sponsored Beckman Coulter and Pacific Life Foundation, brings high school students from all over southern California to compete individually and in teams to solve problems in timed exams and competitions. Held in the University Student Ballroom, the day began with two rounds of individual exams. After working solo, the students competed in 30-minute team exams. The team members’ cooperation and strategy with one another was an important factor in this competition for the top scoring team.

Lunch was provided, and followed by Olga Radoc, a mathematics professor at UCLA speaking about the mathematics of musical scales. The competition for the title of champion was conducted as a face-off round where the two students competing tried to answer difficult mathematical equations before their opponent did. The highest scoring individual student was Tedrick Leung, a senior at North Hollywood High School. For the second year in a row, North Hollywood High School won first place and received the pyramid shaped trophy.

CSULB Math Day at The Beach 2007 Rankings [pdf]

Experiencing considerable growth from previous years, the competition moved from the Pointe at the Pyramid to the larger space available in the University Student Union. Five High Schools were turned down last year due to a lack of space to accommodate all the students.

More about Math Day

View 49er Article.
View LAUSD North Hollywood HS press about Math Day.