Math Day at the Beach

Math Day at the Beach is a mathematical problem solving festival for Southern California high school students, hosted by California State University, Long Beach (CSULB).

There is both individual and team competition. Teams represent high schools and have 6 members each. The competition takes place on a Saturday in March.

Format of the Competition

The competition consists of two individual rounds, a team round, a relay round, and a faceoff round.

Individual Round - Part 1

This round lasts 45 minutes and consists of 15 multiple-choice questions. Scoring consists of:

• 4 points for each correct answer
• 1 point is awarded for each question left blank
• 0 points for each incorrect answer

This means that the maximum possible score is 60 points.

Individual Round - Part 2

This round lasts for 25 minutes and consists of 5 short-answer questions. Your score is 5 times the number of correct answers, for a maximum score of 25.

Team Round

This round lasts for 30 minutes and consists of 8 short-answer questions. The entire team works together on this round, and submits one set of answers. The team's score is 10 times the number of correct answers, for a maximum of 80 points.

While the individual rounds do not require calculus, there are typically one or two calculus questions on the team round.

Relay Round

This was introduced in 2008 and does not count towards teams' scores. It is similar in format to the ARML relay round.

Faceoff Round

The top four individuals from the individual round meet in an oral round loosely modeled on the Mathcounts Countdown, but with longer time limits. Two competitors sit on the stage, and each is given a problem to work. The first to ring in is given a chance to say the correct answer; if that is wrong, the second person is given a limited amount of time (varying by question, usually 30 to 60 seconds) to ring in and answer. This is structured as a single-elimination tournament. In the first round, the winner is the first to answer two questions correctly; in the final round, the winner is the first to answer three questions correctly. The winner adds 10 points to his or her individual score (and his team's team score) and the 2nd place individual adds 5 points. While these point totals are relatively small, they have been decisive in determining individual and team winners in some years.

Tedrick Leung was the winner of the Faceoff Round for four consecutive years, 2004 through 2007.

Winning schools

• 2000: Palos Verdes Peninsula HS
• 2001: Palos Verdes Peninsula HS
• 2002: University HS, Irvine
• 2003: University HS, Irvine
• 2004: North Hollywood HS (won tiebreaker over University)
• 2005: North Hollywood HS
• 2006: Division A: North Hollywood HS --- Division B: Palos Verdes Peninsula HS
• 2007: Division A: North Hollywood HS --- Division B: Troy HS, Fullerton
• 2008: Division A: University HS, Irvine --- Division B: Northwood HS, Irvine
• 2009: Division A: University HS, Irvine --- Division B: Irvine HS
• 2010: Division A: University HS, Irvine --- Division B: Gretchen Whitney HS, Cerritos

Winning individuals

• 2000: Eric Liang, Sunny Hills HS, Fullerton
• 2001: Allen Huang, Palos Verdes Peninsula HS
• 2002: Wen Li, Arcadia HS
• 2003: Yingkun (Roger) Li, Mark Keppel HS, Alhambra
• 2004: Will Nygard, Coronado HS (competing as an independent)
• 2005: Tedrick Leung, North Hollywood HS
• 2006: Tedrick Leung, North Hollywood HS
• 2007: Tedrick Leung, North Hollywood HS
• 2008: Jeffrey Manning, Homeschooled (competing as an independent)
• 2009: Zhifan (Ivan) Zhang, University HS, Irvine
• 2010: David Yang, Diamond Bar HS

Resources

• Math Day homepage
• Mathematics competition resources