Making in count at Central High

By Clarissa Hamlin What do you get at a high school after hours when you divide the number of students that walk the halls by a noticeably smaller number, subtract any distractions and add math problems? Perhaps a contest hosted by the Nassau County Interscholastic Math League, which came to Central High School on Oct. 19 to kick off an afternoon of algebra and arithmetic for more than 100 students from the Mathletes clubs at Valley Stream South, North and Central high schools and West Hempstead High School. “It is a great after-school program,” said David Kim, a math teacher and Mathletes coach at Central for seven years. “The students practice difficult math problems and learn problem-solving skill.” The league, also known as NCIML, was started around 1955 by Dr. George Lenchner. Today, the Nassau County league has about 50 schools and hundreds of student mathletes who participate in six contests during each school year. According to Kim, there are about 20 groups in the league, with three to four schools in each group. During each contest, students have to complete six problems with a 30-minute time limit. Half of the six contests allow participants to use calculators, while the other half are non-calculator tests. Participants must express their answers in the simplest form. This year, each of the contests featured individual problem-solving, with the last contest being a team contest. Those students who score among the top 50 in the NCIML contests can qualify for the all-star team that travels to the New York State Mathematics League and American Regions Mathematics League each spring.