Alec Sun Wins Raytheon Mathcounts Competition

Raytheon Mathcounts Competition

Alec Sun of Lexington, Mass., won the 2013 Raytheon Mathcounts National Competition Friday in Washington, D.C. The winning Mathlete answered the following math problem in less than 45 seconds to be crowned the National Champion:

Question:  What is the greatest integer that must be a factor of the sum of any four consecutive positive odd integers?

Answer:  8

The 8th-grader from Jonas Clarke Middle School competed among 224 middle school students in the competition, engaging the top middle school mathematics minds from across the country.

Sun was victorious in the intense, one-on-one Countdown Round, during which the 12 Mathletes with the highest written test scores competed for the title of this year’s Raytheon Mathcounts National Champion.

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He made history as the first Mathcounts competitor ever to participate in the final Countdown Round three years in a row. Ashwin Sah from Portland, Ore., was awarded the second-place individual title with Franklyn Wang from Falls Church, Va., and Guanpeng (Andy) Xu from Simpsonville, S.C., having advanced to the semi-finals.

In the team competition, Massachusetts captured the title of National Team Champion for the second year in a row. Team members include James Lin, McCall Middle School; Matthew Lipman, Meadowbrook School; Michael Ren, The Pike School; Alec Sun, Jonas Clarke Middle School; and coach Joshua Frost, from Jonas Clarke Middle School. The Washington state team took second place, and the Florida team placed third.

In the picture above: Raytheon Chairman and CEO William H. Swanson (left) congratulates Alec Sun, an 8th-grader from Lexington, Mass., and his coach Joshua Frost, for capturing the 2013 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Champion title. The competition brings together 224 top middle school Mathletes from across the United States.