University High School progressed to the 2023 Math Madness National Championship quarterfinals. Under the guidance of their coach and UHS math teacher, Mr. Eric Shulman, the team of 52 Math Club members secured victories against Milpitas High School in round 64, Ardrey Kell High School in round 32 and Glenbrook North High School in round 16. UHS secured a spot in the final eight and ultimately fell to St. Mark’s School of Texas with a score of 38 to 40.

Math Madness competition is a collaborative effort between the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and AreteLabs. This nationwide event brings together approximately 1,000 teams and 15,000 students to engage in a unique and challenging team-based math competition.

The competition begins with a collaboration round, where students work together in teams of three to four. This is followed by qualifying rounds, which determine a school’s rank in the direct elimination bracket tournament rounds. The format ensures that students not only showcase their skills but also collaborate effectively as a team. During each match, students tackle eight fill-in-the-blank questions in 30 minutes, with the team score calculated by summing the top five individual scores. 

UHS Math Club members remembered their fond memories of participating in the competition over the years. 

“I grew to like the problem-solving of these math competitions,” senior and Math Club Co-President Raymond Luo said. “My favorite memory was two years ago when we won the entire first division competition of Math Madness.”

Throughout the experience, the teammates were able to bond with each other and cheer on their successes.

“Oliver Zheng inspired me to join the Math Madness competition,” senior James Shi said. “Watching our scores go up was my favorite part of the tournament.”

Math Madness competitors hope to build upon current success at future math competitions this year. 

“[We are] going to Math Day at the Beach and the Caltech Math Meet in the spring, where we hope to keep our winning streak going,” senior and Math Club Co-President Kristine Lu said.  “We hope to represent UHS well in all of these competitions.” 

After the conclusion of the Math Madness National Championship, UHS Math Club members are looking forward to the competitive season ahead, aiming to place highly and create special memories.