SCC’s Math Club places third in competition

Five students from Surry Community College’s Math Club recently traveled with their club advisor and SCC instructor, Christian Payne, to the University of North Georgia to compete in two separate math competitions — taking third in both, as well as finishing third in the overall combined score.

Payne said, “I count it a privilege to support such an amazing group of students. These talented students worked so hard to prepare for this competition. We studied mathematical concepts, organized a fundraiser, and made long-lasting memories. I cannot wait to see what these talented students will accomplish in their future endeavors. I also want to thank Lyndsey Haywood, SCC mathematics instructor, for her help in making this trip a success.” The first competition was comprised of 40 multiple-choice calculus problems. The students worked independently for 90 minutes to solve the problems. In the second competition, the students worked in groups to solve 10 challenging pre-calculus problems.

SCC’s students gained third place in the first and second competitions, as well as in the overall school score. Community college and university math students competed in the events.

“The five-hour car trip down to North Georgia was definitely worth the experience of being in a math competition. My favorite memory from the trip was seeing one of the students receiving his third-place prize and seeing how excited the other students in our math club were,” said Lydia Jarrard, SCC Math Club member. Gabriel Wheeler, SCC Math Club member, said, “On the trip, we enjoyed discussing math and telling math jokes. I learned about Euler’s Totient Function, Fourier transforms, and Borwein integrals.”