Math Day at the Beach 2023

On March 11, 2023, the 22nd Math Day at the Beach event was hosted on the California State University, Long Beach campus. Math Day at the Beach is a problem-solving festival for Southern California high school students who want to have fun with mathematics and enjoy a day of camaraderie with university mathematics students and professors.

A total of 32 teams of six high school students each participated in this event, 6 teams in Division A and the others in Division B.

This year's event was hosted on the campus and it was an unequivocal success. There were several parts to this event: an individual round, team round, relay, presentation by in invited speaker, inaugural teachers' face-off round, and the face-off round to determine winners. The problems were designed by the Mathematics and Statistics Department faculty and were selected from algebra, geometry, trigonometry, number theory, combinatorics, and probability.

About Math Day at the Beach

This annual event started in 2000 by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics under the directorship of Dr. Kent Merryfield, a charismatic leader with unparalleled expertise in high-school math competitions, and ran uninterrupted until Dr. Merryfield's untimely death in November of 2018. In March of 2019, the 20th Math Day at the Beach took place under the new directorship by Dr. Olga Korosteleva. Then the pandemic placed this event on hold for two years. The event returned on March 12, 2022, in a curtailed format due to COVID restrictions.

Math Day at the Beach is completely free, thanks to our generous sponsors, the Jerry Cassaday Family and LBS Financial Credit Union.

Invitation to 2024

An invitation to participate in the 2024 event will go out to schools in October of 2023. If your school is interested in trying its hand at tackling those math problems, email Dr. Olga Korosteleva at Olga.Korosteleva@csulb.edu to request practice tests.

Division A schools for 2024 (in alphabetical order):

  • Arcadia High School
  • Beckman High School
  • North Hollywood High School
  • Oxford Academy
  • Palos Verdes High School
  • San Marino High School
  • Sierra Canyon School
  • University High School

Learn more about Math Day at the Beach.

2023 Winners

Here is a list of the teams and individuals who placed during the competition.

Winning Teams in Division A:

  • 1st Place – University High School
  • 2nd Place – Sierra Canyon School
  • 3rd Place – Beckman High School

Winning Teams in Division B:

  • 1st Place – University High School
  • 2nd Place – Arcadia High School
  • 3rd Place – Palos Verdes High School
  • 3rd Place – San Marino High School

Individual Winners:

  • 1st Place – Tiger (Qiao) Zhang, Sierra Canyon School
  • 2nd Place – Ben Fan, University High School
  • 3rd Place – Joshua (Won) Jang, Oxford Academy
  • 4th Place – Amudhan Gurumoorthy, Beckman High School
  • 5th Place – Raymond Luo, University High School

Photos from the Event

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Division A 1st Place - University High School

University High School - Division A 1st Place

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Sierra Canyon School - Division A 2nd Place

Sierra Canyon School - Division A 2nd Place

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Division A 3rd Place - Beckman High School

Beckman High School - Division A 3rd Place

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Division B 1st Place - University High School

University High School - Division B 1st Place

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Division B 2nd Place - Arcadia High School

Arcadia High School - Division B 2nd Place

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Division B 3rd Place - San Marino High School

San Marino High School - Division B 3rd Place

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Division B 3rd Place - Palos Verdes High School

Palos Verdes High School - Division B 3rd Place

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individual winners

Five individual winners (left to right): Tiger Zhang, Ben Fan, Joshua Jang, Amudhan Gurumoorthy, and Raymond Luo

Event Organizing Committee

The following people helped make 2023 a success. Thank you for all of your hard work!

  • Olga Korosteleva, Faculty Director
  • Christina Sover and Cheryl Gray, Event Coordinators
  • Will Murray, Master of Ceremonies
  • Tangan Gao, Grading Coordinator
  • Christina Overholtzer Lopez, Scorekeeper

Sponsors

Math Day at the Beach 2023 was made possible by the generous support of the following organizations:

  • The Jerry Cassaday Family
  • LBS Financial Credit Union
  • ºÚÁÏÍø University Extension
  • ºÚÁÏÍø Associated Students, Inc.
  • ºÚÁÏÍø 49er Shops/University Bookstore
  • ºÚÁÏÍø Department of Mathematics and Statistics
  • ºÚÁÏÍø Parking, Transportation, and Event Services