Yuma Sun e-Edition

MATH

Sisko J. Stargazer can be reached at 928-539-6849 or sstargazer@ yumasun.com.

that was before I started MATHCON so I had to watch videos on Youtube or just tutorial videos to learn how to do combinatorics,” he commented. “I’m still working on combinatorics but I think all my efforts paid off.”

While he felt a bit nervous about the competition, he was also very excited to see Chicago. In the finals alone, there’d been a variety of events and activities for attendees – from a Rubik’s Cube competition and Game 24 for students to edutainment, meals and a keynote speaker.

During his trip, Jay got to see quite a bit of the city too: “I did get to see the Bean or, as some people call it, the Cloud Gate bridge. I got to see the main building for Prudential. I got to see the Trump Tower and a few other buildings.”

Chandra shared that math is his favorite subject and he’s very passionate about science, particularly physics and astronomy.

“When I grow up I want to start a company and the company, like, specializes with some sort of physicsand astronomy-related stuff,” he added.

To reach that goal, he plans to continue doing his best as he heads into 6th grade. Summer break will include working on his science project along with some favorite extracurriculars: swimming, golf and tennis.

When asked for advice for his fellow peers, he remarked that sometimes not understanding a problem is more about not being able to wrap your head around it.

“When I started learning combinatorics, I couldn’t wrap my head around the formulas so there were a bunch of equations that I needed to memorize or not or if not memorize, then just understand why the formula is true,” he said.

In his problem about how many unique ways three people can be seated in seven chairs, he understood the equation by visualizing the situation: “The first person has seven options, seven chairs to take but then times six because the second person will only have six chairs to pick because one char’s already used by the first person. Seven times six then times five because the last person has five. So 7 x 6 x 5, that’s 210 ways to do it.”

Jay is already looking forward to next year’s MATHCON but before wrapping up his interview, he wanted to convey his gratitude.

“I thank my parents and my school, Gowan Science Academy, and my principal, Jamie Haines, for encouraging me to keep on going with MATHCON and all my teachers and also my friends,” he said.

Dr. Preeti Chandra, Jay’s proud mother, also commented that she’s “appreciative of his efforts and his school.”

Opinion

en-us

2023-05-30T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-30T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://yumasun.pressreader.com/article/281582360009878

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