College of the Redwoods’ mathematics department is holding its second annual Integration Bee on Friday, April 12, at 5:30 pm on the Eureka main campus in room HU 110. 

Integration is an elegant calculus process that is vital to physics and other sciences.  The process, often quite tricky, significantly simplifies complex problems that involve limits of infinite sums, like calculating the area under a sine curve, the volume of a torus (donut), or even projecting the 100-year path of an asteroid. Since the first Integration Bee pioneered by MIT in 1981, they have increased in popularity at universities around the world.

Integral Calculus students from the local high schools and colleges are invited to compete in one division and Math teachers, as well as anyone else familiar with the process, in a separate division.  While most Integration Bees pit individuals against one another, CR’s competition is comprised of teams. It will include a tournament style round robin for the final few teams, where pairs of teams will face off at whiteboards. The final head-to-head contest will be between the winning student team and the winning non-student team.

Teams will be required to register before the competition.  Up to twenty teams will be allowed to register.  Cash prizes will be awarded to the top two or three student teams.  Practice integration problems from last year’s list, as well as more details on the competition and registration, can be obtained by emailing: brad-morin@redwoods.edu.
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