Moody's Mega Math Challenge

The challenge logo

Moody's Mega Math (M³) Challenge is an applied mathematics modeling contest open to high school students across the United States (including US territories and DoDEA schools). It is sponsored by The Moody's Foundation (a charity of Moody's rating agency) based in New York City and organized by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) based in Philadelphia. The M³ Challenge awards $150,000 in scholarship prizes each year to the top teams. An additional incentive is the recognition that the winning teams receive. The winning paper from 2008 was published in the College Mathematics Journal and a representative from High Tech's team appeared on FOX Business Channel, 2010 winners were interviewed by Pimm Fox of Bloomberg radio, presented its findings at Lockheed Martin's Data Capture Center, met with U.S. Census Bureau Director Dr. Robert Groves, and had their research published in SIAM's prestigious undergraduate publication, SIAM Undergraduate Research Online (SIURO), the 2011 and 2012 winners were interviewed by Pimm Fox of Bloomberg radio, and the 2014 winners were interviewed by both Pimm Fox and Carol Massar on Bloomberg radio.

Registration Process

Registration is open to high school juniors and seniors in eligible areas as well as to homeschooled and cyber schooled students. Teams consist of three to five students and one coach, who must be a teacher at their school. Each school can have a maximum of two teams. There is no cost to register or participate in the Challenge.

Eligibility

High schools in the following states/district are eligible for the M³ Challenge:

Challenge Weekend

The M³ Challenge is held annually on a Saturday and Sunday in late February or March. Students choose which day they wish to work. Students also choose what time to work thanks to flexible work time. All teams will work in or convert their local time to Eastern Standard Time and download the problem anytime over Challenge weekend to begin their consecutive 14 hours of work. Once the problem is downloaded, the clock starts and it cannot be paused; students should download the problem with at least 14 hours before the firm end of Challenge weekend to have use of the full 14 hours allowed. They can work from any location they choose.

The Problem

Professional Ph.D.-level applied mathematicians write the Challenge problem. Students have no knowledge of the problem before they download it on Challenge weekend. To solve the problem, they are allowed to use any inanimate and publicly available sources. They cannot have any outside help from anyone, including their teacher-coach. A helpful discussion forum leading up to the problem release, a monthly dialog, can be found here. Below are previous problems:

2006 Problem - Solving the Social Security Stalemate
2007 Problem - Beat the Street!
2008 Problem - Energy Independence Meets the Law of Unintended Consequences
2009 Problem - $787 Billion: Will the Stimulus Act Stimulate the U.S. Economy
2010 Problem - Making Sense of the 2010 Census
2011 Problem - Colorado River Water: Good to the Last Acre-Foot
2012 Problem - All Aboard: Can High Speed Rail Get Back on Track?

2013 Problem - Waste Not, Want Not: Putting Recyclables in Their Place

2014 Problem - Lunch Crunch: Can Nutritious Be Affordable and Delicious?

2015 Problem - Stem Sells: What is Higher Education Really Worth?

2016 Problem - Share and (Car) Share Alike - Modeling New Approaches to Mobility

Judging

Ph.D.-level applied mathematicians judge the contest in three phases. In triage, each paper is read through at least two times before being eliminated or passed on to the second round. The triage round of judging eliminates two-thirds or more of the submitted papers. In the second round of judging, papers are read up to an additional 12 times each, and the top papers emerge. The top six will go on to the presentation round of judging while up to 85 remaining papers receive honorable mention team awards. Judging is blind until the presentation round, with teams known only by a unique team ID number. The presentation round is held at the Moody’s corporate headquarters in the World Trade Center on Wall Street where the teams present their papers to a panel of judges. Following the presentations, judges rank the teams and a formal award ceremony takes place.

Prizes

The M³ Challenge awards eight categories of prizes to the top teams. Prize funds are shared equally among all team members; prize money goes directly to the college or university at which each student enrolls:

Awards and Recognition for the M³ Challenge

Resources

Here are some helpful resources:

References

  1. ↑ http://m3challenge.siam.org/participate/
  2. ↑ http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/sfia-swa030609.php
  3. ↑ http://www.asaecenter.org/AboutUs/newsreldetail.cfm?ItemNumber=39715
  4. ↑ http://www.onphilanthropy.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7415&s_oo=Iqcbehmy0Q50SXvxb7s3iA
  5. ↑ http://www.csrwire.com/News/11181.html
  6. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/25/cecp-philanthropy-awards-leadership-citizen-cx_mk_0225cecp.html
  7. ↑ "2015-16 NASSP List of Approved Contests, Programs, and Activities for Students" (PDF). National Association of Secondary School Principals. September 1, 2015 – August 31, 2016.

External links

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