Richard Montgomery Heads To National Math Competition Finals

ROCKVILLE, MD — Five Richard Montgomery High School students are finalists in the MathWorks Math Modeling (M3) Challenge, a competition that requires 11th and 12th graders to work as a team and solve a real-world problem under time and resource constraints.

Now in its 14th year, M3 Challenge — which is organized by Philadelphia-based Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and sponsored by MathWorks — showcases mathematics as a problem-solving tool and motivates students to consider future careers in math and science. The winner of M3 Challenge receives $20,000.

Richard Montgomery students Matt Kolodner, Clarissa Xia, Jack Yang, Laura Yao, and Lauren Zhou will travel to New York City on April 29 to compete against five other finalist teams. The other teams come from high schools in Lincolnshire, Illinois; Nashua, New Hampshire; Glendale, Wisconsin; Lincroft, New Jersey; and Plymouth, Minnesota.

Using mathematical modeling, the Montgomery County high schoolers had 14 hours to develop a solution to one of America's biggest problems: substance abuse. The students had to create a mathematical model to predict the spread of nicotine use due to vaping over the next decade and compare vaping to smoking cigarettes.

They then had to build a separate model to simulate the possibility that a person will use a given substance — taking into account social influences, characteristic traits, and the drug's composition and effects. The students were finally tasked with creating a metric that would measure and rank the impact of various substances.

More than 875 teams across the country submitted papers detailing their recommended solutions, according to challenge officials.

Matt Davis, a math teacher at Richard Montgomery High School, coached the students in preparation for the 14-hour challenge.

"Our team's accomplishment is a testament to how impressive the results can be when bright, engaged, and motivated students decide on a plan of action and work toward accomplishing a goal," Davis said. "Last year, a few students had heard about M3 Challenge. They entered the competition, but realized quickly they had a lot to learn in order to attain the level of success they desired. These students then started a math modeling club. They researched other math modeling competitions, advertised the club school-wide and recruited more members, and held meetings where more experienced students taught new students important skills, including how to use various types of software for graphing and computing, and producing professional-looking mathematical documents."

"I had a limited role as the faculty sponsor; this team's accomplishment is truly the product of their own efforts," Davis added. "Speaking for the whole faculty and staff at Richard Montgomery High School, we are so proud of these students, and the amazing honor they have already achieved."

As one of five students from Richard Montgomery to earn a top spot, Kolodner said the team has come a long way on their math journey and is happy to see hard work pay off.

"I think this is a significant moment for all of us in understanding how far we have come on our math modeling journey," said Kolodner. "For each of us, math has become more than just a subject. There is a certain thrill to defining your own problems, knowing that the algorithms and variables you created could have potential applications in the real world. Math modeling truly is an enriching experience, and I would encourage everyone, no matter your math level, to pursue math modeling and see where your imagination takes you. One year after our experience with math modeling began, it feels great to have all of our hard work rewarded."