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Oct 23, 2007 6:05 pm US/Central
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Fun With Math: Kids Compete To Be A Mathematician
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
On Tuesday, the University of Minnesota held a math competition called "Who Wants to be a Mathematician?" hoping to get kids excited about mathematics.
The questions were unique and sometimes mind boggling.
"What is the result when the I's in Paris Hilton's name are multiplied?"
Eight game participants were split into two groups. They were given a couple of minutes to answer each question.
"Everyone go that right -- it's negative one" said the game host.
Just like the real game show participants could get help from a buddy, however most chose to solve the problems on their own.
Contestants were sometimes asked how they got their answers.
"I can't explain the workings of my mind, it would make ya'll explode" said one of the contestants.
The goal of the competition was to show that math can be fun and interesting, and maybe one day these future mathematicians will put it to use.
"Well, simply the fact that I'm really, really good at it," said Justin Wheeler, an 11th grader Hill-Murray High School.
"America is not producing enough people, by a lot and it's hurting our competitiveness, and it's hurting our safety. If a bridge like 35W is going to fall, someone has to understand the probabilities on how to measure that stuff," said Doug Arnold, the Director of Institute of Mathematics and Applications at the University of Minnesota.
Rohit Agrawal, a 9th grader at Wayzata High School, has been taking math classes at the University of Minnesota since the sixth grade.
Those classes paid off because he was able to answer the $2,000 question correctly.
"Three groups of three numbers are selected without replacement, form the set 1, 2, thru 9, and the product of each group of these numbers is determined," he said.
"Given that the product of the first group is odd, what is the probability that both of the other two products are divisible by four," asked the game host.
Agrawal answered correctly: 9/10.
"I feel really happy and excited. I can't believe I did it," said Agrawal.
He said he will use the money he won to buy books and video games.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)