Pencils ready, no calculators allowed for this question: The product of a set of distinct, positive integers greater than 1 is 84. What is the least possible sum of these integers?
The annual Detroit chapter Mathcounts competition was held at U of M Dearborn Feb. 18. Twelve middle schools and one elementary school from Wayne County were represented.
Livonia had teams from Webster Elementary and Frost Middle schools. Frost brought home three trophies from the competition, third place team, third place highest individual score and second place individual in the countdown round.
The contest is for sixth- through eighth-grade students. Individuals and teams compete in Target, Sprint and team rounds before scores are tallied and the top 10 individuals are called up to compete in the fast-paced countdown round. (Imagine a math-themed “Jeopardy” on steroids where two competitors go head-to-head on questions.) Frost was represented by two students in the countdown round. (Imagine a math-themed “Jeopardy” on steroids where two competitors go head-to-head on questions.) Frost was represented by two students in the countdown round, Brendan Vande Kieft and Zach Obsniuk. They will both go on to compete in the state competition in March. Zach also took home the second-place individual countdown round and third-place high score trophies at the end of the event.
All of the kids are now finding school math tests and MEAP math tests much easier, said Frost parent coach Glenn Obsniuk. The team has had a dedicated core of 17 mathletes in attendance for after-school and Saturday math since September. “The kids had fun challenging themselves and those who have done this multiple years have seen their scores in the competition and in school increase with every year,” Obsniuk said. While the competition is only for 6-8th grade, some of the retiring eighth graders are already talking about being student coaches for the Livonia teams next year.
Got the answer yet? The least possible sum is 14.
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