Math story competition: Who was the winner?

The goal of the Math Story Contest was to motivate young people to practice reading and writing and to promote mathematics.

The contest was intended for young people between the ages of 12 and 21 of any nationality living in Panama or abroad.

Story competition, organized by Panama Foundation for the Promotion of Mathematics (FUNDAPROMAT), had the participation of 115 people from 10 Latin American countries (Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic).

Qualified jury Competition for a mathematical story for the first place chose a 13-year-old Mexican boy, Elián Alfonso López Preciado, who wrote a text entitled “The Enigma of the Numerical Garden”.

“In a quiet village hidden between the hills, where flowers and numbers lovingly shake hands, There lived a boy named Tomás, curious and diligent, who loved mathematics and dreamed of exciting adventures. One sunny morning, while playing in the garden, Tomás noticed something mysterious, an endless enigma. The flowers danced to the rhythm of strange sequences, and the numbers were hidden in colorful figures,” the winner wrote at the beginning of his story.

The second position was in the hands Costa Rican Aaron Josué Vargas Carrillo 21-year-old with the text “El Reloj Circunferencia”, and third place was won by Luis Sebastián Álvarez Ruiz, 18-year-old from Paraguay with the story “Más Allá de las Estrellas”.

This large participation “reflects that our message has gradually crossed the borders of Panama, an achievement we are very excited about because it allows us to create connections and establish alliances with other countries,” according to Dr. Jeanette Shakalli, executive director of FUNDAPROMAT.

What did the jury judge?

– Mathematical value of the story: The story had to contain mathematical content in its narration.

– Organization of the story: Story It had to present an introductory approach, develop a problem or conflict, and a coherent outcome.

– Reader’s interest: the story should excite curiosity readers.

– Drafting: The story must not contain grammatical or spelling errors.

– Creativity: The Author he had to cleverly unravel the math in the story.

– Originality: The story had to qualify as new, unique, innovative and different from others.

Fact

The competition had the support of the IEEE Panama Section and the Panamanian Association for the Advancement of Science (APANAC) as sponsors of the competition awards.