For anyone who’s ever wondered how many 2-by-2-by-2 cubes must be added to an 8-by-8-by-8 cube to make a 10-by-10-by-10 cube, ask any of the middle schoolers who plowed through dozens of similar head-spinning math problems all morning Feb. 10 at Nitschmann MS. They’ll answer in about 45 seconds.

These students were competing in the 34th Lehigh Valley MATHCOUNTS Competition sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers (PSPE).

Founded in 1983, MATHCOUNTS is a national middle school program designed to foster interest and ability in math by making mathematics achievement as exciting and prestigious as achievement in sports. Studentss known as mathletes compete regionally as individuals and teams representing their schools for a chance to compete at the state-level in Harrisburg March 23 and 24. Winners of the state competition advance to the national competition May 8 in Boston.

During his welcoming remarks, Kevin Campbell, president and CEO of engineering firm Barry Isett & Associates, said the Lehigh Valley holds the second largest MATHCOUNTS competition in the state. He has coordinated the regional competition for the past 10 years and currently runs the state competition as well. He says the kids are why he loves being involved.

“The energy the kids bring is so positive and exciting,” he said. “You feel great at the end of the day.”

“[Math] is indispensable in our profession (engineering), as well as many others, including business, accounting, science, medicine, and computer technology,” he continued. “We have been involved in MATHCOUNTS since its inception to help our nation’s youth realize its importance as well.”

Campbell was one of over 60 volunteers who included professional engineers, engineering students, teachers and parents who coach mathletes, set up and tear down, survey testing areas, tally the mathletes’ scores, hand out bagels and pizza during breaks and a slew of other tasks that make the competition happen.

MATHCOUNTS coaches, usually teachers at competing schools, begin working with their mathletes in early fall. Most coaches hold school competitions to determine who will compete at the Lehigh Valley regional competition.

“These are the Olympics of math for the Lehigh Valley,” explained Anna Huttemann. A mathematics teacher at St. Thomas More School for the past 40 years, Huttemann has coached mathletes from her school for 34 years since the program came to the Lehigh Valley. “The way some kids practice sports three hours a day, some of these kids practice math three hours a day.”

Patrick Campbell has coached mathletes for the past 18 years at Lower Macungie MS where he is an enrichment teacher.

“The kids are so intrinsically motivated and are all good team players who like to help each other,” Campbell said. Several of his mathletes, both girls and boys, have gone on to STEM careers, he said, some of whom were there volunteering that Saturday.

“I think the volunteers see themselves in these kids and want to give back,” Campbell said.

At 9:15 am, the mathletes plunged into the first of four rounds in the competition – the Sprint Round – where they had 40 minutes to individually solve 30 problems without a calculator. Next came the Target Round where they had to solve four pairs of problems, each pair in six minutes. Third came the Team Round where they were given 20 minutes to solve 10 problems in teams of four.

The questions are all word problems and involve basic arithmetic, linear algebra, statistics, probability, polynomials and number sets to solve.

While the mathletes ate lunch, volunteers huddled in the library anxiously deciphering the mathletes’ handwriting, scoring their tests and delivering the scores to Andrea Martin, environmental engineer at Barry Isett & Associates, who uploaded the results to MATHCOUNTS and to all of the coaches. She is among many MATHCOUNTS volunteers who use math daily at work and still marvel at the difficulty of the questions.

“These questions are hard,” she said. “I give these kids all the credit in the world.”

“Many of these questions allow for no short cuts,” explained Ned Shillow, who has taught mathematics at Lehigh Carbon Community College for 36 years and has been involved with MATHCOUNTS since its inception in the Valley. “They take brute force to solve, and it’s very satisfying to see the kids solve them.”

After lunch, the competition convened in the auditorium for the Countdown Round, where the 10 top ranking students from the morning’s written tests squared off in pairs. They were given 45 seconds maximum to solve a complex problem without a calculator. The first to solve three problems correctly faced off against the next top-ranking student until an ultimate winner was achieved.

Individual winners and moving on to states are Victor Cai (first place), Eric Zhang (second), and Shlok Dholakia (third) from Springhouse MS, Samit Mohapatra (fourth) and Balaji Marella (fifth) from Moravian Academy. The top finishing team, and representing the Lehigh Valley in Harrisburg, is Springhouse MS.

Cai and Dholakia commented on how much math means to them.

“I love the competitiveness of it and the feeling of doing well,” Shlok said.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Cai added.

The next five top finishing schools were Moravian Academy (second), Easton MS (third), Southern Lehigh MS (fourth), Lower Macungie MS (fifth) and Saucon Valley MS (sixth).

The 10 top-ranking mathletes in the Countdown Round were Alexandra Schamberger (Swain School), Claire Phillips (Saucon Valley MS), Balaji Marella (Moravian Academy), Eric Zhang (Springhouse MS), Victor Cai (Springhouse MS), Shlok Dholakia (Springhouse MS), Samit Mohapatra (Moravian Academy), Adam Plotka (Eyer MS), Yan Yu (Moravian Academy) and Sophie Wen (Southern Lehigh MS).

The top ranking sixth grader was Pranavi Marella (Moravian Academy) and the top ranking seventh grader was Eric Zhang (Springhouse MS). Ryan Paul (Lehigh Valley Academy) also received special recognition for ranking 31 overall as a sixth grader.

Additional awards were for Most Improved School (Saucon Valley MS), Honorable Mention also for making large improvements (Pocono Mountain East JH), and Best New School (St. Anne School of Bethlehem).

As the three top ranking female mathletes of the day, Schamberger, Phillips and Wen each received a scholarship for a math or science course at Cedar Crest College for both their junior and senior years of high school.

Schamberger tried MATHCOUNTS for the first time this year as an eighth grader and commented on the event’s friendly competition.

“It was nice to hang out and compete against people who are your friends,” she said. She aspires to a STEM career in engineering or architecture at this point.

Wen said she is happy for the chance to continue advancing in math with the scholarship and also aspires to a STEM career.

“I definitely want math to be part of my career. I may possibly combine it with music,” she commented.

Lafayette College and Lehigh Carbon Community College are also providing scholarships for a math course for one of the top-ranking winners to be redeemed in his/her senior year of high school. Moravian College is providing math course scholarships for two top-place winners that can be redeemed in the students’ junior or senior years.

Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom provided 25 one-day passes that were raffled off to the mathletes during the day and Minutemann Press in Allentown and Bethlehem donated the printing of the programs. Biaggio Pizzaria in Allentown provided the 65 pizzas consumed by the mathletes at lunch, 3 Men & a Bagel in Trexlertown donated bagels, and Philly Pretzel Factory on Tilghman Street dished out the pretzels snatched up during breaks. Consumables between mathletes and volunteers also included 80 pounds of bananas, 40 pounds of apples, 400 bottles of water and 300 cups of hot chocolate, all provided by the community.

And here’s one last number: the answer to the problem mention at the beginning of this story is 61 cubes.