Who Wants To Be A Mathematician in Rhode Island on Pi Day

March 12, 2002

Providence, RI: Ten Rhode Island high school students will have the chance to convert their math knowledge into hard cash when they compete in Who Wants To Be A Mathematician, Thursday, March 14 at 10:00 a.m. at the Slavin Center on the campus of Providence College. Top prize in the game is $2000. The game will proceed like the TV game Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, with contestants moving up the prize ladder by using lifelines (if needed) to answer questions about mathematics.

Who Wants To Be A Mathematician is free and open to the public. It will be held in '64 Hall in the Slavin Center, and will run approximately one hour. It is being held as part of Pi Day (3/14).

Contestants and their high schools:

Rebecca Arvanites, The Lincoln School
Danny Carvalho, East Providence High School
Bryan Cole, Bishop Hendricken High School
Shannah Farrell, Cumberland High School
John Hawley, Toll Gate High School
Seth Hetu, Mount St. Charles Academy
Alexander Marcus, The Wheeler School
Paul Savickas, Charles E. Shea High School
Mark Stevenson, Portsmouth High School
Nathaniel Warner, Mount Hope High School

Sponsors of the game are Waterloo Maple Inc., Texas Instruments, John Wiley and Sons, the Mathematical Association of America, Pizza Pie-er, LaSalle Bakery, and the American Mathematical Society.

Founded in 1888 to further mathematical research and scholarship, the 30,000-member American Mathematical Society fulfills its mission through programs and services that promote mathematical research and its uses, strengthen mathematical education, and foster awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and to everyday life.