MMM
Mega Math Meet
This page is for organisers of the Mega Math Meet, and in particular for storing logistics information, template TeX files, possibly past exams, etc. As this is a public page, it should not be used for storing contestant data, non-public results information, nor as a repository for sharing the current year's draft problems as they are written.
TeX Instructions
The exam is divided into usually around 5 problems--3 to be done individually and 2 do be done by a team. Problems are often subdivided into separate questions, each worth a specified number of points. Individual problems are often worth, in total, around 10 points each, whereas team problems are each worth around 50 points in total.
Each problem should go in its own separate TeX file, which should contain no headers and should be formatted like the following example:
template_problem.tex:
\Pnum[Problem Name] Explanation of the problem's mathematics and story. \pnum Part 1 of the problem. Include some introduction text here \qnum[1] Part 1 question 1. How many kilometres in a metre? \answerbox[km] \qnum[1] Part 1 question 2. 1+1 \answerbox[] \qnum[2] Part 1 question 3 \answerbox[units] \pnum Part 2 introduction \qnum[2] Part 2 question 1 \answerbox[mile(s)] \qnum[4] Part 2 question 2 \answerbox[hour(s)]
As seen in this example, when you want a box at the end of a question for the students to write the answers into, use the \answerbox macro or the \answerboxn macro, depending on whether you want an extra newline after the answerbox. The answerbox macros take an argument which allows you to put some text at the right side of the answerbox, e.g. to specify the units expected for the answer.
The qnum macro also takes an argument, specifying how many points the particular question is worth. These files will be included in one master file that defines all these macros, the current edition of which looks like this
template_all.tex:
\documentclass[12pt]{amsart}
\usepackage{graphicx,amsmath,amssymb,amsfonts,mathrsfs,latexsym}
\pagestyle{empty}
\theoremstyle{definition}
\newtheorem{prob}{Problem}[section]
\newcounter{PROB}
\newcounter{PN}[PROB]
\newcounter{QN}[PROB]
\setcounter{QN}{0}
\setcounter{PN}{0}
\setcounter{PROB}{-1}
\newcommand{\Pnum}[1][]{\begin{center}\stepcounter{PROB}{\large\textbf{Problem \arabic{PROB}: #1}}\end{center}\par}
\newcommand{\pnum}[1][]{\stepcounter{PN}{\large \textbf{Part \arabic{PN}: #1}}\newline\par}
\newcommand{\qnumn}{\stepcounter{QN}\textbf{Question \arabic{PROB}.\arabic{QN}: }}
\newcommand{\qnum}[1][]{\stepcounter{QN}\par\textbf{Question \arabic{PROB}.\arabic{QN}: }(#1 points) }
\newcommand{\answerboxn}[1][]{\phantom{.}\hfill\framebox[5cm]{\begin{minipage}{1px}\hfill\vspace{.4in}\end{minipage}\hfill#1\ }\newline\newline}
\newcommand{\answerbox}[1][]{\\\phantom{.}\hfill\framebox[5cm]{\begin{minipage}{1px}\hfill\vspace{.4in}\end{minipage}\hfill#1\ }\newline\newline}
\begin{document}
\Pnum[Mental Math (no calculators allowed)]
\vspace{1cm}
Example:\hfill\answerboxn\\
\qnumn \hfill \answerboxn
\qnumn \hfill \answerboxn
\qnumn \hfill \answerboxn
\qnumn \hfill \answerboxn
\qnumn \hfill \answerboxn
\qnumn \hfill \answerboxn
\qnumn \hfill \answerboxn
\qnumn \hfill \answerboxn
\qnumn \hfill \answerboxn
\qnumn \hfill \answerboxn
\newpage
\include{template_problem}
\end{document}
Logistics
Trophies
We order trophies from Dinn Bros. Inc., and tend to order 8 medals each for the 1st-3rd place teams, a trophy each for those teams, and trophies for the 1st-3rd place individual. If you can get an order number from the previous year and call them, they have been willing to simply update the year on the engravings and reorder, which saves a lot of time.
T-shirts
We order T-shirts from Sports Products Mfg. Inc. in Fitchburg. They also have our orders on file, including the Bucky MMM graphic, and can easily reuse it and update the year. We tend to order some combination of Badger color shirts and ink: shirts in white, grey, red or black with contrasting ink. The colored shirts are more expensive and we order those only every few years. We need shirts for all the students plus 2 per team for the chaperones, and a few extras. Since there are usually 20 teams we usually order 240 shirts.
Time and Place
The meet is usually held on a Thursday in late May, on the week in between spring finals and the first summer session. The event typically starts around 9, with the teams arriving starting at 8:30. Try to be done by noon for the sake of the kids getting lunch and then back to school; this means the awards are usually given out at 11:30 or so.
We need to reserve in advance a big lecture hall (we've used B102) as well as about 10 or 12 smaller rooms (we've gotten them on the B1 and 2 levels, and we need one room for every two teams). Joan Wendt has helped us reserve them in the past and may be able just ask for the same rooms as were used the previous year. We have used the Mathlab for grading. We have never had an issue with this, but it is probably a good idea to ask around and make sure it is free.
Pizza
For the event, we order pizza for the contestants from [pizza place]. It is polite to apprise them of the order a day in advance.
Exams from Previous Years
A tarball with the all of 2012's problems, TeX and PDF, is at File:2012MMM.tar.gz.gif
It is uploaded as a .gif because of mediawiki's restrictions, so delete the .gif from the end of the filename after downloading to get the actual tarball. If you are on Windows and cannot open the file, download 7zip from [1]. If you are on some flavour of Unix, you can simply use the command:
tar -xzvf 2012MMM.tar.gz