KU students compete in state, university math events

LAWRENCE — In addition to their success at the recent, internationally renowned Putnam Competition, University of Kansas students have tested their mathematical prowess at other events.

Kansas Collegiate Math Competition

KU undergraduate students took second place in the team competition at the 12th Kansas Collegiate Math Competition, which was April 29 at KU. The competition is part of the yearly meeting of the Kansas section of the Mathematical Association of America.

The competition is team-based, with students working together in groups of two or three to complete 10 problems in three hours. Ten teams from seven undergraduate institutions in Kansas took part. Cash awards were given to the top five teams. Kansas State University had the first-place team.

Second-place team members were Andrei Elliott, a senior in computer science from Lawrence; Andrew Johnston, a sophomore in aerospace engineering from Wichita, and Trevor Scheopner, a senior in mathematics and physics from Wichita.

Yunfeng Jiang, assistant professor, was the KU coach. Mathew Johnson, associate professor of mathematics, co-organized with Scott Thuong, assistant professor of mathematics at Pittsburg State University, the intercollegiate competition portion of the program.

KU Math Prize Competition

The 35th annual event, sponsored by the Department of Mathematics, took place last month. Open to all KU undergraduates, the written exam for each level covered six questions to be completed in three hours. Cash awards were presented at the department’s honors banquet April 25.

The junior-level was open to all undergraduates of non-senior standing and assumes a knowledge of first year calculus.  The winners of the junior-level:

First place: Zachary Bruennig, a junior in computer science with a minor in math from Overland Park.

Second place: Raynaldi Iskandar, a freshman in electrical engineering from Indonesia. Iskandar also was the top first-year student.

Third place: Haohan Zhang, a freshman in economics from China.

The senior-level is open to all undergraduates and covers a range of standard topics of undergraduate math. The winner of the senior-level:

First place: Trevor Scheopner, a senior in mathematics and physics from Wichita. 

Hailong Dao and Yasuyuki Kachi, associate professors of mathematics, were in charge of the competition.