Contestants are drawn from area junior and senior high schools, which are invited to select students from the seventh through twelfth grades. Each school determines its selection criteria.
Tournament tests cover the material usually taught in the relevant secondary grades. Questions are designed to measure reasoning ability apart from computational skills.
“The best preparation for the tournament is the mastery of fundamental course work,” said tournament director and HSU Mathematics Professor Jeff Haag. Calculators are permitted.
The tournament include talks of interest and this year’s speaker is Kinesiology Professor Justus Ortega, whose subject is “Biomechanics: the Mathematics of Sports.” He will speak in Founders Hall Room 118, where awards will be presented at 3:15 p.m.
Prizes are mathematical and educationally useful in nature, recognizing the individual student’s skill and ability. In addition, the $500 Elvada Trautmann Mathematics Scholarship is awarded to the leading senior whose first year of college is at Humboldt State. The James E. Householder and Michael Tucker Awards are presented at the upper, middle and lower division levels.
Founded in 1960 by James E. Householder, the Redwood Empire Mathematics Tournament is held each year on the HSU campus.
For more information, contact Professor Haag at 707/826-5345 or haag@humboldt.edu.