UpdatedFri, May 7, 2021 at 1:08 pm ET
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A team of 11th and 12th graders from Livingston High School took home a top prize of $22,500 in college scholarships during an international math competition. (Image: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics/Zoom)
LIVINGSTON, NJ Participation in an intensive, online international math competition has added up to a first-place win for a group of New Jersey high school students. The team of five 11th and 12th graders from Livingston High School in Livingston took home the top prize of $22,500 in college scholarships, out of the total $125,000+ being awarded, after being chosen as winners yesterday. Thousands of high school juniors and seniors across the U.S. and sixth form students in the U.K. vied for distinction in this year s MathWorks Math Modeling (M3) Challenge, a prestigious competition that demonstrates the importance of math in everyday life.
Jason Bao
The team, Jason Bao, Aditya Bora, Mehul Dhoot, Joseph Suharno, and Austin Tsang, spent the past few months developing a solution to the problem of how to make internet access available to everyone.
Using mathematical modeling, students had 14 hours in February and March to come up with a solution to the real-world issue of âhow to defeat the digital divide.â
Bora said he found the M3 Challenge to be unique among other math competitions, and entertaining as well.
â[It] pushed us to balance the quantitative and qualitative realms, breaking down our jumble of numbers into clear, concise explanations,â Bora said. âAnd it was a great opportunity for us to set aside 14 hours with a couple of friends, crack open a soda, and see how we can utilize modeling to change the world.â