Iowa Collegiate Mathematics Competition

Fifteenth Annual Iowa Collegiate Mathematics Competition

The 15th annual Iowa Undergraduate Collegiate Mathematics competition was held on Saturday, February 28, 2009, at Iowa State University. Thirty nine teams from 10 Iowa Colleges and Universities participated. The team "Cold Bus" from Grinnell College won with 76 points, beating the previous year's winners from Iowa State University by a single point. The winning team members from Grinnel were Cheng Luo, Klevi Xhaxho, and Illya Tyshenko. The spreadsheet with scores has been mailed to all participant's faculty advisers, let Ruth Berger know if you want a copy. Congratulations to Grinnell College. They will probably be hosting next year's competition.

The 2010 Iowa Collegiate Math Competition will be held at Grinnell College on a Saturday in March or late February. If the last two competition dates have conflicted with your student's Spring break let Ruth Berger (bergerr@luther.edu) know by Oct. 10 so we can avoid another conflict this year. The 2010 competition date will be published on the competition web site by late October; see http://www.central.edu/maa/Contest/.

Contest Rules

The Iowa Collegiate Mathematics Competition is a three-hour team competition administered by the Iowa Section of the Mathematics Association of America in late March or early April of each year. Specific rules for the competition are listed below.

1. Teams will consist of at most three students. The students on a team will usually be from the same school. However, at the time of the competition, teams of fewer than three students from different schools can combine to make a team of two or three. (The latter should not be used to form "all-star" teams consisting of the best students from two or three schools, but only to allow more students to compete on full teams.)

2. The exam consists of 10 problems. Each team submits one set of solutions to all or some of the problems.

3. Each problem is worth 10 points (for a total of 100 points.) For full credit on a problem the answer must be correct and all supporting work must be shown.

4. No books or notes may be used during the exam. However calculators (including the TI-92) are allowed. Teams must provide their own compasses, rulers, protractors, etc.

5. The school with the winning team in a given year will host the exam the following year. If a team from the host school wins, then the school (other than the host school) with the highest ranking team will host the competition the following year. If a multi-school team wins (see 1.) or places second to the hosting school, then the host for the following year's exam will be the non-hosting school with most members on the team. If there is no such majority then the host for the next year will be  determined randomly from among the eligible schools represented on the team.

6. Contest results will be announced at the Iowa Section Meeting, when possible.

Previous Contests

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