Mu Alpha Theta will again run a Math Presentation Contest. If you are interested in making an electronic math presentation or a video of you presenting a math topic, please copy the 2009-2010 Math Presentation Contest rules and submission form.

Presentations must be submitted electronically by attaching to an email or uploading online where they can be viewed. Submissions must be 5 to 10 minutes in length and include voice over. See the attached rules for other details. Prizes will be between $100 and $1000 depending on the quality of the work and each participant will win a copy of Mathematica, the computer algebra system software. If you have any questions, email the National Office at matheta@ou.edu.

Mu Alpha Theta held their first annual Math Presentation Contest in 2009. Winners to last year's contest are below with links to their presentations.

The five National winners for 2009 were:

First Place, $500 Prize

Cycloid Curves by Alex Tir and John de St. Germain of Riverside Academy, Laplace, LA
This is a Power Point slide presentation without voice over. Clicking on the highlighted link will allow you to download the file for viewing in PowerPoint.

Brief Description of Content: The properties of the cycloid curve are explored, as well as other types of cycloidal curves. This includes its properties as a brachistochrone and a tautochrone, ranged to similar, fascinating curves such as the realeaux triangle.

Second Place, $300 Prize

The Mathematics of Music by Nathan Bradley Duke of Parkview High School, Springfield, MO. The video has been uploaded for viewing.

Brief Description of Content: An oral presentation explores the mathematical relationships within the musical aspects of rhythm, pitch and sound waves.

Third Place, $200 Prize

Three presentations tied for third place:

The Mean Value Theorem for Derivatives by Anthony Fernandez of Miami Springs High School, Miami, FL. This is a brief exploration using Geometer's Sketchpad and the video has been uploaded for viewing.

Get Better Scores on your SAT by Sei Masuoka of Winston Churchill High School, Potomac, MD. The Adobe Presenter slide show with voice over has been uploaded for viewing.

Brief Description of Content: Using Statistics, the SAT answer distribution is analyzed for any pattern within the sample data taken from SAT prep books. Then a couple of guessing methods are proposed based on the analysis and are tested out on actual SAT tests.

Get Better Scores on your SAT by Sei Masuoka of Winston Churchill High School, Potomac, MD. The Adobe Presenter slide show with voice over has been uploaded for viewing.

Brief Description of Content: Using Statistics, the SAT answer distribution is analyzed for any pattern within the sample data taken from SAT prep books. Then a couple of guessing methods are proposed based on the analysis and are tested out on actual SAT tests.

Statistical Analysis of State SAT scores by Christopher Lee Squitieri of St. George's Independent School, Collierville, TN. This PowerPoint presentation may be saved for viewing. The current copy has some voice over. We are waiting for a corrected copy to be uploaded soon.

Brief Description of Content: This presentation looks at the amount of money states spend per student on average and compares this to student results on the SAT.

Honorable Mention

Ashok Cutkosky of Hickman High School in Columbia, MO has received an Honorable Mention for his PowerPoint presentation on his mathematical research entitled "Associated Primes of the Square of the Alexander Dual of Hypergraphs." While the presentation was above the high school level we were looking for, Ashok has already won $23,000 in scholarships for this work from the Siemens Competition.