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The University of Tennessee




 

Rules for Math Bowl Answers

Here are some Math Bowl example problems.

This year no units will be required in answers!

During the Math Bowl, each judge will have to determine rapidly whether a team's answer is correct. In order to
facilitate the judge's job, the following rules apply to all answers given by a team. An answer that does not follow
these rules, even if mathematically correct, will be declared incorrect by the judge.

1. Answers that are not integers may not be expressed in decimal form. Fractions must be expressed in reduced form:
7
5		 and 1  2
5		 are permitted but not 14
10		 or 1 4
10		 or 1.4
also, 2 1
2		 π or 5 π
2		 or 5
2		 Π are permitted but not 7.85
2. All roots must be in reduced form:
2√3    and not    √12
3. Denominators must be "rationalized":
√2    and not     2
√2
4. Probabilities should be stated in reduced form and not as percentages:
1
4		    or    1 : 4 but not   2 : 8 or 25%
3 1
3		   hours could be a correct answer, but not 3 hours and 20 minutes or 200 minutes
5. Complex expressions such as x(y+z) must be expressed in an unambiguous way.
For example, one could say "x to the parentheses y + z closed parentheses" or "x to the quantity y + z" but not "x to the y plus z," which would be interpreted as xy + z.

Team members are urged to practice converting expressions into the correct form and reading them aloud, in order to avoid losing credit for correct answers that are incorrectly stated during the contest.

The ruling of the judge is final! Any team whose members delay the progress of a round, e.g. by arguing with the judge, will be warned only once. A second offense by a given team will result in forfeiture of the round. Audience members must remain quiet throughout each round. Audience members who disrupt the round or attempt to help team members will be asked to leave (and the team they support will lose any points gained as a result of help they have given).

updated: Oct 26th 2009