By Jayson Edgerle
Reporter
From as far as Fresno, high school students gathered to participate in the CSU Bakersfield Math Field Day, on Feb. 24.
According to David Gove, professor and chairman of the Department of Mathematics, 17 schools participated. A total of 400 students competed in nine different events. The events included the Individual Medley (JV and Varsity), Chalk Talks (JV and Varsity), Math Humor, Math Bowl (JV and Varsity), and Team Medley (JV and Varsity).
The one event that many people could watch was the Math Bowl. The students solved some complex questions, without the use of a calculator, while being timed. The audience was pretty quiet for the JV, but got really loud during the Varsity portion.
“This was the 47th annual Math Field Day,” Gove explains. “So if you work it out, subtract 47 years from now (which) was almost as soon as CSUB was started.”
Gove explained the different events. The Individual Medley is a written 20 multiple-choice test and the Team Medley is a cooperative version where team members work together to answer the questions. The Chalk Talks are a prepared math lecture, the Math Humor is a math related comedy skit, and the Math Bowl is a timed test that takes place on stage.
Both students and faculty volunteered to help out with this event.
Math Professor Charles Lam, explained how the student volunteers were recruited.
“Most of them are our students and in fact, a lot of them are math majors or taking a math class,” Lam said. “And we recruit them through our classes. We tell them we need volunteers and they would be glad to help.”
Jesse Vonseca, 24 and computer engineering major, said he enjoyed Math Bowls.
“I participated in a Math Bowl when I was in the 4th grade and I really enjoyed it. I thought it would be nice to help out,” said Vonseca.
Though the event went on without a hitch, Gove explained a few things that could improve the event.
“I would like to see more local participation. For some reason, it seems we have just as many schools from Fresno as Bakersfield,” Gove said. “There’s still schools from Bakersfield that don’t come, there’s schools still in Kern County that still don’t come. I would like them [High school math students] to be able to tour and see everything the university has to offer.”
