Four OHS teams were among 435 teams from 80 high schools to participate in the Fourteenth Annual High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling (HiMCM) held on November 4th – 21st, 2011. According to the results announced on January 20th, one OHS team earned the Regional Outstanding Award with its solution being rated in the top 15% of all solutions. The three other teams were also recognized with one earning Meritorious and the two others Honorable Mention.
This is the second year that OHS students have participated in the contest in which students work to solve real-world problems in a consecutive thirty-six-hour period. The contest stimulates and improves students’ mathematical problem-solving proficiency as does it develop their writing skills. This year, one problem involved developing a comprehensive 10-year plan for the International Space Station; the other asked students to develop an algorithm for finding “lost objects” (such as a ring or a jogger) in a city park at night.