Math Achievement

Seth (age 16) just eats up math.  His main interests seem to be math and geography; if we go to town he usually brings his atlas books along or his math.

Last week Seth got to be involved in a math competition.  All of the area schools send their top students to the competition.  There were overall about 130 students that participated.  Only 5 were homeschool students.

Prior to the competition there is a research question posted on the Internet.  It is not a math problem that you just give an answer to.  You have to figure out the process that could be used to get the answer, if there is an answer.  (I know I probably don’t sound like a math person.  That’s because I’m NOT!)  The research question is not required but Seth did it anyways and received first place! 

At the competition they first have a team test that lasts for 30 minutes.  Up to 4 students can be on a team.  Seth joined with 2 other homeschooled boys to work on the test.

Then there is the individual test that lasts for 1 hour.  The questions are hard.  Problems like:  What is the value of the product (log₃16)(log₂27)?  (huh?!?)   My son tells me the answer is 12.  (just in case you really wanted to know )

This is Seth’s third year of higher math, so he entered in at Level 3.  On the individual test scores, of all the students in Level 3,  he won an award for 5th place. 

This boy teaches himself.  When he was in Algebra I, I did help him with a few problems, but since that point he has been able to figure things out on his own.  I’m sure glad about that because math is definately not my strong point.

I’ll be curious to see if he’ll choose an occupation that uses a lot of math or if he’ll go another direction.  I’m praying for God’s direction in his life.

Way to go Seth!

"Math expresses God’s creation in its absoluteness.  Compared to other fields of science, it is quite free from contradiction.  Its theorems and concepts, once established, seldom change with time and progress.  It maintains rigid and exacting regulations, which show God’s perfect order."  -Roseann Miller