Question: The pages of a book are numbered consecutively from 1 to n. The book is divided into 12 chapters such that the number of digits used to number the pages of each chapter is the same. Compute the least possible value for n.

Exeter, NH (June 6, 2007)—If you need to know how to solve this math problem, ask Keone Hon or Sherry Gong. The 2007 graduates were co-captains of the 15-member team from Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH, that won first place in the nation at this year’s American Regions Mathematics League (ARML). It’s the largest on-site mathematics competition in the country involving students and teachers from almost every state. Considered the World Series of mathematics competitions, ARML examination is written for high school students, and a few exceptional students in junior high. Over 1,800 students participated in the meet.

This year, Exeter’s team of 15 and seven alternates–made up of Math Club members and math whizzes–scored a total of 171 points in four areas of competition, earning them first place. Team members included: Gye Hyun Baek ’09 (Seoul, Korea); Brian Basham ’08 (Brush Prairie, WA); Eric Cho ’08 (McLean, VA); Karl Cobbe ’09 (Nevada City, CA); Maria Chung ’08 (Sungnam City, Korea); Sherry Gong ’07 (San Juan, PR); Yi Han ’08 (Pittsburgh, PA); Keone Hon ’07 (Kamuela, HI); Amy Huang ’09 (Tenafly, NJ); Jamie Karraker ’08 (Morgantown, WV); Han Lee ’08 (Seoul, Korea); Paul Lee ’09 (Carmel, IN); David Rush ’09 (Scarsdale, NY); Ashwin Suresh ’08 (Acton, MA); John Yoshida ’08 (Syosset, NY).

Alternates included: Vivek Agarwala ’08 (State College, PA); Yunjee Kang ’10 (Guilderland, NY); Najja Kossally ’08 (Brooklyn, NY); Keebuhm Park ’09 (Seoul, Korea); Anubhav Sinha ’10 (Rochester, MN); Vikas Velagapudi ’10 (Moline, IL); David Xiao ’10 (Brentwood, NH).
 
The team took the 10-hour trip to Pennsylvania for the day-long competition which took place on June 2.

Exeter has a long history of holding its own in national and international math competitions as far back as the 1980’s. More recently, PEA has sent a team to ARML and other math competitions every year since 1998. Another prestigious challenge is the U.S.A. Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO), a six-question, two-day, nine-hour essay/proof examination initially attempted by more than 400,000 high school students throughout the country. Each year, Exeter’s team efforts have paid off, with the Academy winning seventh place in 2006, and third place in 2005. This is the team’s first time winning first place.

“This is extremely good news,” says math instructor Zuming Feng. “It is very hard to win at ARML because of the strong nature of the contest. While we have been a dominant force in math extra-curricular activities for several years now, due to the size of this competition, (teams of 15 usually made up of students from around a state or region), it is very difficult for a team from one school to win the event. It requires tremendous depth and team work.” 

Co-captain Gong was also invited to attend this year’s math Olympiad training camp, after tying for second place and being named a top winner for 2007. She earned a scholarship award for college and will train at the camp to be a member of this year’s U.S. international team, which will compete in the International Mathematic Olympiad in Hanoi, Vietnam this July.

“This is definitely a team contest: having a few very strong students is not enough; the entire team of 15 needs to be solid performers. Because most of our competitors are teams assembled from states and regions, we have to be very strong,” says Hon.

Phillips Exeter Academy is a coeducational, independent preparatory school that was founded in 1781 and originated the system of instruction known as Harkness teaching in 1931. In the spirit of its charter to foster both goodness and knowledge, students come from a wide variety of geographic, economic, racial and religious backgrounds. The diverse student body comes from approximately 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and 26 foreign countries.

For more information about Exeter’s math department and to learn more about its Math Club, visit http://www.exeter.edu/academics/84_801.aspx  and http://www.exeter.edu/student_life/85_534.aspx.

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