Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
    Date: 4/19/01
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple   91

COLLEGE AND AREA STUDENTS TACKLE "PROBLEM OF THE DAY" FOR SLU
MATH AWARENESS WEEK
     HAMMOND -- To celebrate "Math Awareness Week," April 23-27, the Southeastern
Louisiana University Department of Mathematics is hosting daily math problem solving contests
on campus and online.
     The campus contest is for Southeastern students who can win campus bookstore gift
certificates for giving the old college try to math problems posted each day in various buildings.
The Internet contest is for fifth and sixth graders, junior high and high school students, who can
also win prizes if they get the right answers on questions posted on a special web page.
     On campus, Southeastern students will find a new math problem each day in Mims Hall,
Southeastern Hall, McClimans Hall, McGehee Hall, Tinsley Hall, the Science Building Annex,
Pursley Hall, and the new arts and sciences classroom building. They can submit their answers  
and show their work   by 5 p.m. daily at the Mathematics Department's main office, which
recently moved to room 308 of the new classroom building.
     "An answer will be considered correct only if it is accompanied by all the work necessary
to arrive at the correct solution," said math professor David Day, chair of the Math Awareness
Week Activities. "Anyone is eligible to participate, even winners of previous days. We hope that
every student will attempt these problems. In general, the solutions will be quite accessible to all
SLU students."
     First, second, and third place winners will be selected each day by a random drawing
from the list of correct answers. Winners' names will be posted each day on the bulletin board
outside the Math Office.                 
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MATH AWARENESS WEEK   Add One
     Last year, more than 1,500 students in grades 5-12 tackled the Math Awareness Week
online problems posted each day on mathematic professor Kent Neuerburg's weg page,
www.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/kneuerburg/pod.html. 
     This year's contest follows similar rules. Students can log on to Neuerburg's web address
daily to find the fifth-sixth grade, junior high, and high school problems. They have until one
minute before midnight each day to submit their answers via the interactive form on the web
page and can log back in the next morning to see if their answers were right.
     The names of students submitting correct answers will be entered into a drawing for
prizes, as will the names of their teachers, Neuerburg said.
     "This is an example of the really good things that Southeastern is doing for the
community," said Katherine Pedersen, head of the Mathematics Department. "We were so
pleased with the online contest's success last year. We hope our area teachers and students will
have fun with it again this year."
     For additional information about the campus contest, call the Mathematics Department at
985-549-2175. Neuerburg can be reached for information on the Internet contest at
kneuerburg@selu.edu.
                             -SLU-
Press release available online at www.selu.edu/NewsEvents/PublicInfoOffice/newsp01.htm