Beth Schmid
Headquarters, Washington, DC                       May 6, 1997
(Phone:  202/358-1760)

RELEASE:  97-90

"MATHLETES" CONVERGE ON WASHINGTON MAY 9

     The nation's top seventh- and eighth-grade mathematics 
students are coming to Washington on May 9, each with the goal of 
becoming the number one junior high school "mathlete," winning a 
gold medal, $8,000, and a week at U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, 
AL.

     The competition finals on May 9 will be open to the press at 
11 a.m. EDT and will be held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, Regency 
Ballroom, 2500 Calvert St., NW, Washington, DC.

     NASA is a sponsor of MATHCOUNTS, a national grassroots 
mathematics coaching and competition program promoting seventh- 
and eighth-grade mathematics achievement with the challenge and 
excitement of a school sports event.  MATHCOUNTS is hosting its 
14th National Competition, which tests students' speed, precision 
and endurance.  Fifty-seven teams, representing all states, the 
District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Defense Department and 
State Department dependent schools worldwide, Guam, U.S. Virgin 
Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
will compete.

     Of the 228 team members participating in the National 
Competition, ten students will qualify to compete for the title of 
1997 MATHCOUNTS National Champion.  They will meet in the final 
event -- the Countdown Round -- a fast-paced game-show-like 
competition that sets one calculating student against another.  In 
this one-on-one oral elimination event, students race the clock 
and each other; they have up to 45 seconds to solve each problem, 
hit the buzzer and answer correctly.  The Countdown Round begins 
at 12:05 p.m. EDT and will continue for about 45 minutes.

     The MATHCOUNTS program is the only program of its kind and is 
open to all public, private and parochial schools.  Sponsors 
target seventh- and eighth-grade students to reach them at a 
critical time in their development and interest in mathematics.


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