Conquering the Math Contest in Modeling

Every year, the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications (C C C OMA OMA OMA P P P) sponsors the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM), an international contest for undergraduates. We will discuss our strategy for developing models, writing the paper, the contest timeline, and team dynamics. 1 What is the MCM? In the MCM, three-person teams are given 96 hours to develop mathematical models to solve a real-world problem, evaluate their solution, and write a research paper describing the results. These papers are generally around thirty pages long. The questions are open-ended and over a broad range of topics. Past problems include fingerprint identification, submarine tracking, air traffic control, and velociraptor hunting strategies. Does your leisure reading include math books? Have you ever programmed a quick game on your TI-86 to stave off boredom? Is the Mathematica vs. MATLAB debate interesting to you? Have you ever considered simulating the growth of grass? Then the MCM is for you. Even if you aren't anüber-nerd, we recommend the contest to you. Why? • Practice for a thesis. The MCM will teach you a lot about organization, clarity, and time management. • Reading papers. Reading previous research is essential to the MCM, and 96 hours of searching for critical information will develop your ability to extract useful bits quickly. • Prototyping skills. You will learn to look at a problem and come up with a fast prototype solution. This is invaluable in programming, math, or science of any sort. • Reputation. If you manage to win, it looks great on a résumé. Several financial companies make a specific point of recruiting MCM winners. At the beginning of the contest, you are given a choice between two problems †. Over past contests, Problem A tends to be " continuous " —problems with continuously varying parameters, especially the modeling of physical phenomena. Problem B tends to be " discrete " —problems like queuing, routing, and scheduling. The 2006 contest problems are reproduced in Appendix A (p. 22). A useful 15-minute exercise is to read them with your teammates, discuss which one you would hypothetically choose, and brainstorm possible approaches and simplifying assumptions. † MCM and ICM problems are usually presented together. MCM teams must choose between Problem A and Problem B; Problem C is only for ICM teams. 2 Judging MCM papers are judged by a panel of mathematicians and math educators. In the …