Students from Murrieta’s Shivela Middle School crowded around Scott Flansburg Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 5, peppering him with questions and holding out pens so he could sign autographs.
Flansburg isn’t a rock star or a professional athlete. He’s a math whiz who calls himself “The Human Calculator.” He spoke about his love of math and showed off his skills during a 30-minute presentation at Shivela on Wednesday.
He dazzled students from Shivela and several Murrieta elementary schools with his ability to quickly and accurately add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers, producing answers even before a teacher manning a calculator could come up with them.
“Numbers are the most powerful language in the world,” Flansburg told the students.
Shivela won the visit from Flansburg by placing first in the American Math Challenge, an online math competition held in October. The competition, which is open to schools, classes and individual students, is held over two days. Students answer questions based on math curriculum for their grade level and also compete against other students in math games.
Antelope Hills and Rail Ranch elementary schools also placed in the top 10 in this year’s competition. Students from all three schools expect to compete again in the spring during World Maths Day.
Shivela teacher Jack Mitchell first began participating in the competition several years ago while he taught at Rail Ranch. His wife, Jessica, a teacher at Antelope Hills, heard about the competition and told her husband. She now coaches the team at Antelope Hills, and their son, Austin, a second-grader, competes.
Jack Mitchell moved to Shivela this year, and many of his former students followed him to the school and they decided to continue competing. The team, made up of 41 sixth-graders, spent about 12 hours one day answering questions based on their curriculum and the next day competed in the math games.
The competition helps fuel students’ passion for math in class and at home, he said.
“When you see kids going home and wanting to do math, that is a huge win,” Mitchell said.
Sixth-grader Euge Yamakoshi said math is a lot cooler than some people realize. He enjoys algebra and hopes to pursue math studies in college, he said.
“Math is completely fun,” he said. “It’s awesome.”
Flansburg encouraged the students at Wednesday’s assembly to consider competing in the world math competition and to embrace math as they continue their educations.
“You have zero excuses not to get through high school and go to college,” he said.
Follow Michelle L. Klampe on Twitter: @MichelleKlampe and read the Inland Schools blog: blog.pe.com/schools