Conestoga Students Advance To International Math Competition

TREDYFFRIN/EASTTOWN, PA —For 14 straight hours in early March, a group of Conestoga High School students came together to participate in an international online math modeling competition.

A combination of math smarts and creative thinking resulted in the team earning a spot in the finals on April 24. A total of 650 teams participated and there were eight finalist teams.

MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge (M3 Challenge), drew nearly 3,000 11th and 12th graders in the U.S. and six students in the U.K. this year.

The students were asked to come up with the best solutions to questions around the predicted growth of e-bike use and its impact on society.

The team consisted of James Johnson, Evan Lu, Daniel Tu, Vincent Yao, and Evelyn Yu.

“One of the greatest rewards as a teacher is to see your students find a passion and pursue it beyond the four walls of the classroom,” said Allison Youndt, Conestoga teacher-coach.
“This team has a passion for mathematics and statistics, not just for the sake of doing the math, but to apply it to the world around them.”

Team member Evan Lu said the competition was a one-of-a-kind math experience that fulfilled him intellectually and socially.

"Who would have thought that a 14-hour math modeling marathon could be so fun?” he questioned. “ We went through a mathematical boot camp together and survived to tell the tale, forever bound by the shared experience of pushing ourselves beyond our limits.

"And let’s not forget the inside jokes and memories we created along the way – who says math can’t be funny? "

Using mathematical modeling, students had to come up with solutions to real-world questions:

• How many e-bikes will be sold in the next two years?
• Of the many factors that contribute to e-bike use and sales growth, which are most significant?
• For a given country or region, can we quantify the impact that e-bike use has on carbon emissions, traffic congestion, or other key factors?

"News feeds, magazines, and everyday discussions seem to be filled with talk of ‘the future of the automobile',” Neil Nicholson, judge, said. “It is really interesting to see how the modelers attacked these questions, because understanding how the past influences the future will surely provide insight into these big real-world issues."

M3 Challenge is a program of Philadelphia-based Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and is sponsored by MathWorks.

Winning teams will be awarded a share of $100,000 in scholarships, with the champion team receiving $20,000 in 2023.

In addition to Conestoga High School, the other finalist teams are from Alexandria, Vir; Gainesville, Fla.; Houston, Texas; Lincolnshire, Ill; Lincroft, N.J.; London, England; and Mason, Ohio.