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Suggest Problem Ideas:
Submitting Modeling Problems for
Future M3 Contests
View Problem Solicitation Flyer [PDF, 440KB]
To retain freshness and vitality, every profession needs to encourage talented young people to enter their field. Applied mathematics and computational science is no exception. While SIAM remains focused as a professional society on furthering research on new applications in science and industry and on promoting student activities at the graduate level, the Society has also undertaken activities at the secondary school level. One such activity is Moody's Mega Math Challenge, a mathematical modeling contest for high school students sponsored by The Moody's Foundation.
The contest introduces junior and senior high school students to applied mathematics by giving them an opportunity to work in three- to five-person teams and to tackle a real-world problem under time and resource constraints akin to those faced by industrial applied mathematicians. In a single 14-hour session, a team downloads the contest problem from the M3 Challenge website, develops a mathematical model for its solution, and presents the group's findings in a paper written to be accessible to nontechnical readers.
Unfortunately, there is not an abundance of realistic modeling problems that can be studied, "solved," and documented in 14 hours by high school students, using only Internet resources and free publicly available reference materials! Therefore, the SIAM community is invited to provide input on modeling problems for future contests. Suggested problems should be sent to Lee Seitelman or Michelle Montgomery or uploaded below. Honorariums of up to $1000 will be awarded to problems suitable for the Challenge.
In summary, here are the criteria for good Challenge problems:
- Accessibility to 11th and 12th grade students
- Suitability for "solution" in 14 hours/li>
- Possibility for significant math modeling
- Topic of current interest
- Availability of sufficient Internet data for a variety: of approaches, and of depth of solutions
- All teams can make some progress
View previous Challenge problems in the Challenge Archives.
