Mathematics all-stars recently competed at Lone Star College-Montgomery in the annual Lone Star College System Calculus Contest, where contest “rules” and “limits” took on an entirely new “function.”
 
The contest, which took place in April, had 29 students from across LSCS vying for one of the top three slots and, subsequently one of three cash prizes, in two separate calculus divisions: Calculus I and Calculus II.
 
“Similar competitions are held at many different colleges and systems, but this is the first time that LSCS’s annual competition took place at the LSC-Montgomery campus,” said Dr. Jeffrey Groah, professor of math at LSC-Montgomery. “Students had a lot of fun meeting and competing against their peers.”
 
The competition was open to all registered LSCS students. Students were not allowed to use calculators for the timed qualifying rounds and were eliminated after their second wrong answer.  
 
The Calculus I division winners were Giancarlo Hernandez, first place; Michelle Wood, second place; and Brian Pitman, third place. All three are students at LSC-Montgomery.
 
The Calculus II division winners were Nguyen Nguyen, first place; Michael Turrell, second place; and Mark Steele, third place. Nguyen is a student at Lone Star College-North Harris and Turrell is a student at Lone Star College-Kingwood. Steele is a student at LSC-Montgomery.
 
The first place winners each received a $100 cash card, and the second and third place winners each received $50 and $25 cash cards.
 
“This friendly contest really shows that many students value calculus,” said Maureen Loiacano, instructor of math at LSC-Montgomery who was instrumental in organizing the event. “The students were very appreciative of the contest and even asked that we conduct it more often.”

LSC-Montgomery is located at 3200 College Park Drive, one-half mile west of Interstate 45, between Conroe and The Woodlands. For more information about the college, call (936) 273-7000, or visit www.LoneStar.edu/montgomery.
 
With more than 69,000 students in credit classes for fall 2010, and a total enrollment of more than 85,000, Lone Star College System is the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area, and the fastest-growing community college system in Texas. Dr. Richard Carpenter is the chancellor of LSCS, which consists of five colleges including LSC-CyFair, LSC-Kingwood, LSC-Montgomery, LSC-North Harris, and LSC-Tomball, six centers, LSC-University Park, LSC-University Center at Montgomery, LSC-University Center at University Park, Lone Star Corporate College, and LSC-Online. To learn more visit www.LoneStar.edu.