Mathamos!!!

April 15 is Tax Day.  Besides voting, Tax Day is one of the most intimate interactions Americans have with their government. 

April 15 is MATH TEAM.  Besides math class, MATH TEAM is one of the most intimate interactions students have with mathematics.

Many of your teachers (and parents) are hoping to collect a nice return.  In MATH TEAM, we are preparing for a nice return to the podium as we get ready for the state tournament. 

This Tuesday will (very likely) be our second-to-last MATH TEAM Tuesday of the year!  Don’t write this one off!  Come ready to itemize your strategies and audit your accuracy.  We will spend most of our time grinding through the fine print of the state math code to squeeze out all the value we can for the 2025 annual year.

More deadlines!  As we announced this week in our Tuesday MATH TEAM, our applications are open for both eboard and modeling teams.  Applications are due Monday night – April 14 at 11:59 pm.  
• eboard application
• modeling team application
Be sure to get your paperwork in on time to avoid late payment penalties!

No exemptions from effort.  No loopholes out of hard work.  No withholding your brilliance.  Success is dependent on the gains you are making through your independent work and corporate earnings.

Yes, you heard it right.  This week is our second to last meeting.  Next week we are off due to the ACT.  Then we anticipate April 29 to be our last MATH TEAM Tuesday of the year.  We will use that time to proof the junior high contest, pass out awards, announce the new e-board, celebrate seniors, … and share some snacks. =)

You’ve invested your time and effort all year… let’s maximize our yield in these final days.

See you on Tax Day, April 15

1500/1502 Soph/Sr
1506 Jr
1508/1510 Frosh

daMathTeam

fineprint: yes, I filed my taxes just now

We stars!  Great we are. Dare we be sweet! Career we be fast!!! Fear creed be great!  Defy fear!  We get great reward!  We serve great. We better!  Weeeee!!!!!

Ok… there’s actually a lot of info we need to get out.  I’ll take the sling off and type the rest of this email with two hands.

1.   Believe it or not there are only 2 more Tuesdays before state!  This week, next week, and then we lose a week because of ACT testing.  In that light, we will likely sit for a full-length exam this Tuesday (some grade levels will be doing other things).  It is helpful to sit for a full length exam with peers around you in a pseudo-stressful environment as we prepare for state.  Whether or not you sit for the competition, it will be good to do rigorous math for 50 minutes… or as close as we can get.  It is the same reason why practicing the WHOLE ACT in one sitting is better than practicing just a little here and there.  Good luck to those taking the ACT this week… max out that math section!!!

2.   Believe it or not, we will have fewer MATH TEAM Tuesdays than there are fingers on your left hand!

3.   Believe it or not, we will be looking for new e-board members for MATH TEAM!  That’s right.  We decided that ALL of our senior leaders: Jaden Audrey, Diana, and Lillian, will no longer be fit to lead us next year.  They will not be asked back.  Yup.  We’re cutting them lose.  So long!  Adios!  Bu-bye!   We will describe the process to apply for our e-board in our meeting this week.

4.   Believe it or not, our math modeling season is done.  Our Junior team of Richard, Jonathan, Angela, Tanav, and Kritik made it as semi-finalists in the Modeling the Future Challenge and through the triage round of the M3Challenge.  Super achievements!  Congrats to our juniors!  Our senior modeling team of Lillian, Audrey, Diana, Jaden, and Catherine finished as semi-finalists in the M3Challenge and scooped up a tidy $1500 in scholarship money.  Congrats to our seniors!  This means we will be looking for the next generation of modeling teams.  We will describe the process to apply as a modeling team in our meeting this week.

See you Tuesday!
1508/1510 to start for all!
3:32-4:35

daMathTeam

Dear Mathletes,

After much reflection, I have decided it is time to let you know some  big news.  Some of you have already heard, but I will be retiring from Stevenson after this year.  I have treasured my time as a MATH TEAM coach, treasured your successes in service and competition, treasured our many conversations about math, life, and learning.  But good things must come to an end, and it is time for me to step away.

I have accepted a position at a local university (my old stomping grounds in Evanston) where I’ll be focusing on educational research as it relates to high school mathematics.  While I’m excited for this next chapter, I’m going to miss my Tuesday afternoons with all of you.

The coaches and I have decided that there is no reason to wait for the end of the school year to make this announcement.  Tomorrow, we’ll be gathering in 1508/1510 for a final farewell as I will be transitioning into the new position immediately. Yup.  This will be my last MATH TEAM meeting.  =(. 

We’ll share some photos, a few coaches will give speeches, but then we will have to move on and engage in a quick mini-qualifying exam as we prepare for state competition.  After all, what better way to end my years of coaching than by taking a math contest with our peers.

Before you start drafting emotional farewell emails or organizing a fun surprise for me…. April Fools!!!

I’m not actually retiring… Well, that’s not true either.  I’ve been trying to retire every year for the past five years, but I never seem to be able to pull it off.

What is true is that we will be having a mini-qualifying exam at various grade levels, and we will be doing some competition math together with our peers. =)

April 1, 2025
All levels in room 1508/1510
3:31 – 4:29

daMathTeam

P.S. If you already started planning a farewell gift, we accept snacks.

Free snacks!

Tomorrow in MATH TEAM, we take a break from our heavy competition season and pivot into service to our community again.  First, members of our esteemed e-board will lead a talk on question writing for mathematics competitions.  Then we will all try our hand at writing questions for the Consortium Math Competition.  Many of you probably competed in this junior high competition.  In those years, you were the beneficiary of (sometimes brutally difficult) questions written by members of the MATH TEAM.  Tomorrow we will begin creating a stockpile of questions that we will use for the 2025 Consortium Math Competition.

As we write, we will have some snacks, and all together sign our trophy from NSML.  =)

We are going to bring all four grade levels together into room 1508-1510.

Come by, listen to a talk on how to write high level math team questions, then contribute to the future MATH TEAM by writing questions for the next generation.

Tuesday, March 11
1508-1510
3:33 – 4:31

daMathTeam

¡Hola matemático! Mañana nos reuniremos nuevamente para el EQUIPO DE MATEMÁTICAS después de la escuela. Hablaremos sobre los resultados regionales y luego cambiaremos nuestro enfoque a NSML #5, que será el jueves de la próxima semana.  Los eventos de equipo (8 personas, 2 personas, calculadora) seguirán realizándose, así que consulte su aula de Google para conocer los horarios.  También es de destacar que nuestros equipos de modelado matemático impulsarán sus artículos MTFC esta semana y producirán sus artículos M3Challenge el domingo.  Así que estos días hay un poco de gente.

yowsah…. google translate is pretty good these days…

see you tomorrow
3:30 – 4:29
1500/1502/1508/1510

daMathTeam

Mathletes,

Big day tomorrow! We gather in rooms 1500/1502 (soph/sr) or 1508/1510 (frosh/jr) to prep for regionals. Logic, limits, leaps—it’s all on the docket. Clever minds, keen wits, swift pencils—ready to blitz?

The only thing missing?  U!

=) 

For some reason, I’m thinking about the crazy amazing autogram:

Only the fool would take trouble to verify that his sentence was composed of ten a’s, three b’s, four c’s, four d’s, forty-six e’s, sixteen f’s, four g’s, thirteen h’s, fifteen i’s, two k’s, nine l’s, four m’s, twenty-five n’s, twenty-four o’s, five p’s, sixteen r’s, forty-one s’s, thirty-seven t’s, ten u’s, eight v’s, eight w’s, four x’s, eleven y’s, twenty-seven commas, twenty-three apostrophes, seven hyphens and, last but not least, a single !

See yo tomorrow as we lay down the plan for regionals on Feb 22.

daMathTeam

Hey Mathlete, 

Grab your calculators and calendars… there is a lot going on in the next two weeks.

 This Week’s Schedule:

Tuesday before school: 8-Person Practice… check your google classroom for details

Tuesday after school: MATH TEAM!  We will hang out and prep topics. =)

Tuesday after MATH TEAM: Calculator practice… again, check the goog-room

Wednesday after school: 2-Person Practice… google classroom will have details

Thursday: Some students will be trying out for the American Regions Math League.  Good luck to those going to York

 NSML Contest Alert :

Good luck to the 30ish folks taking the AIME on February 6!  And for all MATH TEAM members, mark your calendars for the February 6 NSML event hosted at Stevenson.  You are all invited to take an official contest.  Fill out this google form to reserve your spot and for details!  

 Pre-Contest Fun Night :

To get hyped for NSML, we’re hosting a first ever “Pi & Play Night.”  After your Thursday club or after finishing the AIME, come by to hang out, get fed, and chill before the NSML event.  

When: Tuesday 2/6/2025 from 4:15 to 6:15 (food arrives at 4:50)
Cost: $5
Sign up here: https://omella.com/kuzya?utm_source=mailto

Come on out!  Math is much better with pizza, the e-board will plan some fun-tivities, and you can also come simply to hang out with buddies.

See you at MATH TEAM this week

Tuesday 1/28/2025 3:35 – 4:29
1500/1502 Soph/Sr
1508/1510 Frosh/Jr

daMathTeam

p.s.

ok… full disclosure.  This week, I asked ChatGPT to write me an email with three main points. 1–the schedule for this week.  2–nsml sign up.  3–the pizza night.  

The email you have is pretty much what it gave me. 

I’ve been wondering if people that don’t like reading my long goofy emails copy and paste it into chatGPT to summarize the main points of the email.  So then I thought it would be funny to use chatGPT to take three bullet points, make it into a long email… only to have you use ChatGPT to give you three bullet points of the email again.  (!)

I apologize to the data centers and the electricity used for thought experiment.  =)

We live in the unique moment in time when humans may no longer be the smartest beings on the planet… it’s gloriously frightful.

=)