IT ALL ADDS UP TO MATH VICTORIES FOR DESERT, HART HIGHS.

Byline: Daily News

LANCASTER - Desert High School at Edwards Air Force Base and Hart High School of Newhall won Antelope Valley College's 26th annual Math Field Day.

Hart High teams won both the upper- and lower-division contests among large schools and Desert did the same among small schools, marking Desert's 13th consecutive win in the small-school upper-division category.

Students from 14 public and private high schools competed for individual and team awards in timed math tests, answering questions devised by college math instructors. The college has sponsored the event since 1981 to raise teens' interest in math.

Hart High's junior-senior team members - twins Elizabeth and Isabella Tang and Seth Winger - scored 219 out of a possible 300 points. Desert High School's junior-senior team members - Keith Hines, Ben Mayo and Rebecca Hicks - scored 165 points.

Placing second in the junior-senior large-school competition was Quartz Hill High School, whose team members - Brian Mercer, Joey Thomas and Jason Dunkel - scored 203.

Finishing second in the junior-senior small-school competition was Desert Christian High, whose team members - Colin Pearson, Matt Guertin and Shelbey Hunt - scored 144.

Elizabeth Tang took the first-place individual trophy with a score of 88. Suzanne Piatt of Burroughs High School in Ridgecrest was second with 81 points, and Dunkel was third with 80.

In the two-person freshman-sophomore competition for large schools, Hart High's Michael Ewart and Jason Chew took first place with 87 points. Desert High's Kaitlyn Kennett and Kiki Broadnax took first place among small schools, also with 87 points.

Second place among the large schools' frosh-soph teams went to Quartz Hill's Amber Archambo and Katie Madison with 86 points. Second place among the small schools' frosh-soph teams went to Boron High School's Eric Duvall and Darcy Dewar with 76 points.

In the junior-senior competition, each competitor completed 20 questions in areas ranging from algebra to pre-calculus.

The freshman and sophomore teams each answered 22 questions in a ``leap-frog relay'' for a 110-point maximum score. Partners traded papers during the test, allowing each student to finish a partner's work or correct mistakes.

The competition was sponsored by Antelope Valley College and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Sample question from the leap frog relay for freshmen and sophomores:

1) Julie has a 12-foot-by-20-foot garden. She wants to put fencing around it to keep out the neighbor's dog. Normal fence posts cost $2 each while strong ones cost $3 each. If Julie needs one fence post for every 2 feet and has $70 to spend on fence posts, what is the greatest number of strong fence posts she can buy?

a. 2 b. 3 c. 4 d. 5 e. 6

Sample questions from the junior-senior competition:

2) If my son will be 8 years older than I am now when I am 5 times as old as my son is now, then I will be 3 times as old as my son is now in:

a. 2 years b. 4 years c. 6 years d. 8 years e. 10 years

3) A road connecting town A to town B is traveled by a runner and a cyclist. At noon the runner starts off from A and the cyclist starts off from B. Their speeds are a constant R for the runner and a constant C for the cyclist. When they meet, which occurs T hours after noon, the runner has two hours to go to reach B and the cyclist has one hour to go to reach A. What is T?

a. 1 b. 4/3 c. 3/2 d. 3 e. square root of 2

Answers: 1) e. 6; 2) b. 4 years; 3) e. square root of 2

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) Desert High School's Keith Hines, Rebecca Hicks and Ben Mayo, left to right, won the junior-senior team math competition at Math Field Day at Antelope Valley College.

(2 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) In the two-person freshman-sophomore competition for small schools, Desert High's Kaitlyn Kennett and Kiki Broadnax took first place at Math Field Day at Antelope Valley College.

(3 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) Hart High's Elizabeth Tang, Seth Winger and Isabella Tang, left to right, scored 219 out of a possible 300 points to win the large schools team competition. Elizabeth Tang took the first-place individual trophy.

(4 -- ran in SAC edition only) Antelope Valley College President Jackie Fisher presents the first-place awards for Leap Frog Relay to Hart High's Jason Chew, left, and Michael Ewart.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer

Box:

SAMPLE QUESTIONS (see text)