Re: Go Texas Math! Message #11 Posted by Tony David Potter on 14 Aug 2007, 1:11 a.m., in response to message #1 by dbatiz
Thanks to all that visited my site (http://www.texasmath.org)
Texas is one of the few states that has academic contests between schools (in addition to athletics) and both here are governed by the UIL (University Interscholastic League, http://www.uil.utexas.edu)
The Calculator Applications contest evolved from the Slide Rule contest that UIL developed in response to World War II demand for mathematicians and engineers. The UIL considers the Calculator Applications contest to be a predominately engineering contest, hence all the involved physics word problems and surveying-type geometry problems.
The current incarnation of the test is a thirty minute, seventy problem test. Students are only graded on what they attempt, that is, problems skipped past the last problem attempted aren't counted wrong. Scoring is five times the last number attempted minus seven times each problem skipped or missed up to that point.
When I first started competing in this contest, I used an 11C. Since becoming a coach, I've indoctrinated dozens of kids into using 32SII's, 33S's, and just purchased my first 35S a few weeks ago. Students have told me of their "frustration" trying to use "other" calculators after training on the HP's, and I've given plenty of 48's (graciously donated from members on here) as "graduation presents" so they could continue to benefit from RPN (and return my 32SII's so I can teach the next batch.)
In additon to coaching Calculator Applications, I also coach UIL Number Sense and Mathematics, as well as work with students in the American Mathematics Contests (had my first USAMO qualifier last year), the Junior Engineering Technical Society TEAMS contest, and the Trig*Star contest hosted by the National Society of Professional Surveyors. I enjoy teaching students to "think outside the box" that modern education has forced them into.
I'm glad people found my site interesting. If you have any questions, let me know.
Tony David Potter
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