Opinion by Sarah Tarver
Contributing writer
In February of 2008 I had a very unique and exciting opportunity: to take part in the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications’ Mathematical Contest in Modeling (COMAP MCM).
Each February teams of up to three get together on a Thursday evening and are given two different possible problems. That year the problems were:
A. Consider the effects on land from the melting of the north polar ice cap due to the predicted increase in global temperatures. Specifically, model the effects on the coast of Florida every ten years for the next 50 years due to the melting, with particular attention given to large metropolitan areas. Propose appropriate responses to deal with this. A careful discussion of the data used is an important part of the answer.
B. Develop an algorithm to construct Sudoku puzzles of varying difficulty. Develop metrics to define a difficulty level. The algorithm and metrics should be extensible to a varying number of difficulty levels. You should illustrate the algorithm with at least 4 difficulty levels. Your algorithm should guarantee a unique solution. Analyze the complexity of your algorithm. Your objective should be to minimize the complexity of the algorithm and meet the above requirements.
My team chose to work on problem A So the three of us got together and started planning our strategy. This started a five-day process of researching and putting information together to formulate an answer for the problem.
The answer is due the following Monday by 8 pm, both by e-mail and a paper copy.
Overall it was a lot of fun to research the information and try to solve a real life problem. By the end of the weekend we were all tired, and sick of the problem as we had literally spent five days living in the math building and eating, sleeping, and breathing this problem, but it was worth every second of it.
The wonderful thing about this contest, and others like it, is that it is an automatic plus on your resume if you place. It also provides real life training in solving problems.
Dr. Karl Frinkle is the faculty sponsor here at Southeastern and when talking to him about this upcoming competition in February he said “[COMAP MCM is] a fun way to expose undergraduates to real world problems and see if they can use the knowledge gained in their mathematics, physics, and programming classes…it is worth five days of your life once in your college career.”
So anyone who is interested in participating in the 2012 COMAP MCM, and has a background in science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics, visit the website http://www.comap.com/undergraduate/contests/mcm/ or e-mail Dr. Frinkle ([email protected]) for more information.