The Department of Mathematics’ first Calc-Bowl brought 14 teams of talented high school and college students to campus this spring to compete against each other in pre-calculus and calculus. Calc-Bowl, a lively competition among teams of five players in the format of a game show, was organized by math professors James Baglama, Lubos Thoma, and Li Wu. The event was designed to recognize and reward talented students and possibly recruit some of them to the University.

The team Zorn’s Lemon, above right, took first place in the competition. Its members, Elizabeth Kemp, LaSalle Academy ‘07; Mike Axiak, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ’09; Daniel Valmas, Shea High School ’07; and Kian Shenfield, Rhode Island College ’09; took home $100 gift certificates to URI’s bookstore.

Perhaps participating URI ocean engineering student Joe Hanna said it best when he sent an email thanking the organizers: “I was glad to see teachers laughing and having a good time with students. I hope you continue Calc-Bowl in the future. Who knew math could be fun?”