On Sunday, March 3, four JHS students—myself, Jeremiah Roberts, Jacob Roth, and Jordin Wyatt—embarked on a very unique experience: a math scholarship contest called Moody’s Math Challenge, in which teams across the United States competed to solve “realistic modeling problems.” That, at least, was what I knew going into it. Little did I know that it would entail 13 grueling hours of non-stop math.
The challenge started at 8:00 in the morning. When I arrived, I learned that the problem required us to use a mathematical model to estimate how much plastic waste would be in landfills in 2023, and then determine what recycling methods would be best for cities of different sizes. As you can imagine, we didn’t even know where to start. For several hours we aimlessly browsed the internet, looking for some insight that would help us figure out what to do. After a while we began to toss around the idea of quitting before we spent too much time on a project that none of us knew how to do.
Then, at around 10:30, we took a walk to discuss ideas. When we returned, everything had changed. We each somehow found a seed of inspiration and began to work. Some of us began on the math necessary for part one and others set in on researching recycling methods for part two. We paused only for lunch, and then spent the next eight hours learning more about plastic waste than any of us ever wanted to know. (Our projections were pretty dismal, by the way.)
Eventually, around 8:30, we began to put our answers together for the final paper. In a surprising twist, the simultaneous editing feature of Google Docs actually proved useful rather than distracting, as we were able to edit and proofread the paper together. We wound up with 12 pages of what we hoped was a readable paper.
Finally, fifteen minutes before the 9:00 deadline we submitted our paper. Our mental states at the time were a bizarre mixture of triumph, fatigue, and confusion – after thirteen hours, it was finally done.
The M3 challenge was what one might call “character building.” Nobody actually enjoyed it, but in the end we learned how one might go about solving real world math problems and had an interesting story to tell afterwards.
The M3 challenge only requires three contestants and a teacher sponsor, so if any reader feels inclined to put together a team, the website is here: http://m3challenge.siam.org/. Looking back, I think it is worth doing. Just make sure to learn from our mistakes and do some planning and practice in advance.