Eagle Butte Mathletes compete at Totem Torus Math Competition

By Samantha Johnson
Prairie Rose Public Schools Content Writer

Two mathlete teams from Eagle Butte High School, the Denominators and Casual Mathletes, competed at the Totem Torus Math Competition in Edmonton on Thursday, April 11. The teams drove up the day before and got to spend time together as a group at the mall during the evening. The teams were made up of those students in the Grade 12 calculus class who wanted to attend the competition.

Questions could be from every grade level between 7 and 12 with a solo competition where a calculator was allowed, a team portion in groups of six solving 25 questions in 45 minutes without calculators and then a relay in groups of three, where the previous person’s answer corresponds to the next person’s question.

“They choose harder questions because they wanted to challenge you, but they wanted something that anyone in each grade could solve,” said Arabella Allen. “It wasn’t questions from the curriculum, just trying to think out of the box.”

The student’s scores compared well with other public-school students from across Alberta, but Allen stated they’d gone for the experience and not to win. After graduating this year, Allen plans to go to Carleton University for the aerospace engineering program.

“I didn’t study at all or review anything, I probably should have and I likely would have done better,” said Jordan Vandor who will attend the University of Alberta for mechanical engineering in September. “I went for fun, it’s not for marks so it’s easier to do because there isn’t that stress of having to get it right. The relays were fun, the solos were better than the team ones, that was the worst one. I’m retired now, I’m a one-hit wonder.”