MathCounts 2006 Competition

MathCounts is a national mathematics enrichment, coaching and competition program open to all middle-school students. For the last 23 years it's influencing lives of school students all over the nation. Each year, MathCounts develops an entirely new MathCounts School Handbook, meeting National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards for grades 6-8, and provides a complimentary copy to middle schools nationwide. More than 7 million students have participated in MathCounts activities since 1983.

This year's Lockheed Martin MathCounts National Competition was held on May 11 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. As many as 228 Mathletes competed in it. They represent more than 500,000 students who have participated in MathCounts at the school level. MathCounts brings together educators, youth, industry sponsors and volunteers to develop the mathematical skills of hundreds of students. More than 17,000 MathCounts volunteers from the business and education communities annually organize and conduct the program in communities nationwide. Local and state competitions are coordinated through the leadership of state and local chapters of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

This year Daesun Yim of West Windsor, New Jersy won the Champion title by answering the following challenging math problem in less than 45 seconds in the intense, one-on-one oral final Countdown Round:
A jar contains 8 red balls, 6 green balls and 24 yellow balls. In order to make the probability of choosing a yellow ball from the jar on the first selection equal to 1/2, Kerry will add x red balls and y green balls. What is the average of x and y? Answer: 5 (How many seconds did you take?!).