MIT Hosts Math Contest Just for Girls; Largest Cash Math Prize for Girls in the World

This Saturday, Sept. 17, MIT will host a math contest just for girls. More than 250 middle and high school students will compete in the Advantage Testing Foundation’s Math Prize for Girls in Cambridge.

There’s some serious money at stake. First place is awarded $25,000, second place $10,000 and third place $2,000, with the remaining $12,000 of prize funds divided among the rest of the top 10 participants. This is the largest monetary math prize for girls in the world. Currently in its third year, the prize offers mathematically gifted young women a chance to showcase their talent and draw inspiration from a community of peers and mentors.

“Our goal is to encourage young women with exceptional potential to become the mathematical and scientific leaders of tomorrow,” the organizers write on the competition’s website.

The Math Prize for Girls is open to any female student from the United States or Canada who attains a qualifying score on the American Mathematics Competition exam.  This is the first time the event will be held at MIT.

The first round of competition will be held Saturday from 9:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., during which contestants will be given 20 short-answer math questions to complete to the best of their ability. Meanwhile, a panel presentation beginning at 10:15 a.m. in Kresge Auditorium will be available for parents and members of the community interested in learning more about math enrichment programs for their students.

Michael Sipser, head of the Department of Mathematics at MIT and a co-organizer of the event, stressed the social, supportive environment of the competition: “We’re trying to dispel the stereotype of the lonely mathematician and show that math is fun, especially for young women.”

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Posted by jcashman on Sep 12 2011. Filed under Featured - For home page featured article. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry