Johns Creek High School students are finalists in an international math competition focused on providing high-speed Internet access to people of all economic backgrounds.
The student math team, Jason Bao, Aditya Bora, Mehul Dhoot, Joseph Suharno, and Austin Tsang will present their findings to a panel of mathematicians in the virtual MathWorks Math Modeling M3 Challenge on April 26.
A total of $125,000 in scholarships will be awarded at the end of the competition. The winning team will receive $22,500 in scholarships.
The math competition brought together 2,400 students forming 535 teams from the U.S. and U.K., in February and March, to address the problem of Internet access, connectivity and the digital divide that has become apparent during the pandemic. The teams were tasked with creating a model to predict what Internet activity will cost over the next 10 years, how required bandwidth will be determined and the best way to maximize access, a statement said.
Bora said the Johns Creek team has worked intensely on their project. “... (It’s) blossomed into a riveting, exciting, and, at times, a bit frustrating, experience that transformed our perceptions of mathematical modeling in real-world settings,” Bora said, in the statement.
In its 16th year, the M3 Challenge is a program of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics in Philadelphia. It’s intended to motivate students to consider further education and careers in applied math, data sciences and technical computing.
The annual competition is usually held in New York City but has been held virtually the past two years due to the pandemic.
More detail on the problem students have been asked to solve is available on the M3 Challenge website.
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