Kids plan new Olympic events around math

Some of you were able to "invent" some unique World Olympics math-based events as proposed in the April Math Mania. But, whether any of them will be sanctioned as official events anytime soon is questionable.

Math Mania creator Amy Ruzicka had posed this question in the April contest:

"Design five new Olympic events related to math. Explain how participants would compete in each event and how the gold, silver and bronze medals would be awarded."

Some of the new events were all math. But, some had contestants do math while completing some physical exercise.

One unique event was named "synchronized dividing." And it would require some split-second math calculations. The event called for contestants to figure a division problem in the short time between diving off a board and hitting the water in a swimming pool.

April entries judged as being best were entered by Jess Kelly, Meghan McCann and Claire Meyer, all of St. Louis. All of them will receive $10 Borders gift certificates.

(If you'd like to enter the May Math Mania competition, click here.)

Here's a sample of one proposed new Olympic event from each of the winners:

By Jess Kelly

Event: Finding the Missing Sides:

"The contestants are given a complex shape. A few sides have measurements labeled and the rest are labeled as variables. Within 10 minutes, athletes are asked to find each missing variable. Three points will be awarded for each variable found. Athletes also are asked to find the perimeter and the area of the shape. Fifteen points are awarded for the correct perimeter; 24 points for the correct area. The highest score get the gold; second highest, the silver, and third highest, the bronze."

By Meghan McCann:

Event: Mathalon:

"There will be a team of three people each. The first man will do a math problem. He then will hand the answer to the next man who will run 100 yards and pass it to the last man who will run 300 yards to the finish. Whichever team finishes first and has the correct answer will win."

By Claire Meyer:

Event: Popu-calc

"Each country's team will have to calculate its own country's population, per-capita income, average poverty rate, average income and average number of children per household. They will not be able to use any statistics. They only can use census data and do the averages themselves. Whichever country can do the calculations the fastest and get correct answers will win gold. The second fastest would get silver and third fastest, bronze."