K-12 Student Events

  • CalcuSolve is a competition that tests students’ problem-solving skills related to mathematics. Students participate both individually and as part of a 4-member team. During the course of the event, there will be two (2) team problems and seven (7) individual problems.

    Team Problems (#1 and #9): Problems #1 and #9 will be solved by the team. Teams will go into a breakout room for 10 minutes to work on the problem. Within 10 minutes, they will need to submit their response via a provided electronic form. All groups will be required to include a picture of their work.

    Individual Problems (#2 – #8): The problem will be shared with all participating students. After the problem is shared, students will have 5 minutes to work on the problem. After 5 minutes, a hint will be shared and then students will have an additional 3 minutes to work on the problem and submit their response. 

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Contact Us

  • Diane Thomson
  • 484-237-5017

Grade Levels

  • Grades 5 -6

    Grades 7 - 8 (recommended for students enrolled in Algebra I or above)

    Grades 9 - 12 (recommended for students enrolled in Algebra II or above)

Agenda

  • The competitions will take place virtually via the Zoom platform.

    Schedule of events:

    • 9 - 12 grade level - 8:30 - 10:00 AM
    • 7 - 8 grade level - 10:30 - 12:00 PM
    • 5 - 6 grade level - 12:30 - 2:00 PM

Cost

  • There will be a participation fee of $20 per team.

Sample Problems

  • There is a wide range of content that will be covered and your students may be presented with questions on content they may not have been exposed to yet. See below types of questions asked in previous tournaments.

    For example: CalcuSolve 2019 Grades 7-8 Questions


    Question: If a regular octagon is created by removing an equilateral right triangle from each corner of a square with sides of length 𝐿 then what is the perimeter of the octagon in terms of 𝐿?
    Answer: 𝐿√2+2
    Note: This was a team question.

    Question: Find the equation of a parabola which goes through the points (0,2), (1,1) and (2,-1).
    Hint (given after 5 minutes): 𝑦=𝑎𝑥2+𝑏𝑥+𝑐)
    Answer: 𝑦=−12𝑥2−12𝑥+2

    Question: Jim takes 4 hours to mow 3 acres of grass and Jane can mow 2.5 acres of grass in 2 hours. A 6 acre field needs to be mowed and Jim and Jane will work together. Assuming they will work at their normal rate without interfering with each other then how long will it take them to mow the grass in this field together?
    Hint (given after 5 minutes): Think acres per hour
    Answer: 3 hours

    Question: For what values of 𝑘 will the graph of 𝑦=𝑥2+(3−𝑘)𝑥+1 touch the 𝑥-axis at exactly one point?
    Hint (given after 5 minutes): Use the discriminant.
    Answer: 𝑘=1 and 𝑘=5.

    Question: Find the points where the circles 𝑥2+𝑦2=4 and (𝑥−2)2+𝑦2=9 intersect.
    Hint (given after 5 minutes): What can you easily eliminate with these two equations?
    Answer: (−14,√634) and (−14,−√634)

     

    Download Sample questions for grades 5-6

Technical Details

  • 1. All participating students will need an internet connected device (computer or cell phone) to access the Zoom platform.

    2. The event will not be recorded. In addition, students will not be required to have their camera on.

    3. Students are permitted to use calculators during the event. The use of any problem solving apps (e.g. Photomath) is not permitted.

Scoring

  • There are two scoring categories – Individual and Team.

    • Individual scoring: There are seven (7) individual problems and each is worth a maximum of 5 points. Students will earn 5 points if they answer correctly prior to a hint being shared and 3 points if they answer correctly after a hint has been shared. A hint will be given after students have had 5 minutes to work on the problem. After the hint is given, they will have an additional 3 minutes to work on the problem. Students can earn a maximum of 35 points on the individual problems. 
    • Team scoring: There are two team problems worth a maximum of 10 points each. Teams have 10 minutes to work on the team problems. A correct answer will result in 10 points being awarded. No hints are provided for team questions.
    • Final scoring: The individual total from each team member (from the individual problems) will be added to the the team points earned to determine the overall score. Assuming a team has a full roster of 4 team members, the maximum team score is 160 points.