Pummill Math Relays
General information about the Relays
For over 50 years, high school students who love math have gathered on the Missouri State University campus for a series of math competitions known as the Pummill Math Relays.
Held each spring, the relays let high schoolers get a look at the university campus and college students a chance to assist with the competition, which can provide valuable resume experience for aspiring math teachers and others.
Pummill Math Relays 2025
- Date: TBA
- Location: TBA
- Schedule:
- 9 a.m. - Opening
- 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m - Events
- 1 p.m. - Awards
There is also an event schedule and a description of events.
Format
We will again have a Calculus event this year, however, the event will not include clickers. Instead, the calculus event will be a pairs event (up to two pairs per school) with a qualifying round followed by a sudden-death round. This event will occur LIVE (Main Court, 11:40–12:20), right before our LIVE MathMania event (Main Court, 12:30–1).
Up to two calculus student pairs per school are invited to participate in this event. This event will be restricted for individual students enrolled in Calculus this year. In addition, there are four other restricted individual events, four open individual events, four traditional team events, a challenging problems event, and our Math Mania event.
Math Mania is a timed problem-solving event for teams of three or four competing in an "elimination" style tournament the final half-hour before the awards ceremony. Here are example Math Mania questions and answers.
All other scheduled individual and team events have a time limit of 30 minutes. There is no penalty for guessing on any of our contest events. Categories in individual, open and team events include algebra I, geometry, algebra II, 4th-year math, calculus, mathematical reasoning, and probability and statistics (changed this year from the previous counting and probability).
Check out the rules for the Pummill Relays
Awards and scholarship opportunities
We award 1st though 3rd place medals in each individual event and 1st through 3rd place medals to team members of overall winning teams. Recognition is also given to 4th and 5th place winners in the individual events and to the top three teams from each size classification (1, 2, 3, 4). A traveling trophy will be awarded on-the-spot to the team winning the Math Mania event.
Outstanding senior participants in the Pummill Math Relays who will be attending Missouri State are encouraged to apply for both the Missouri State Math Relays Scholarship ($2,000) and the Lawrence E. and Crystal Pummill Scholarship ($500). All incoming math or math education majors are also encouraged to apply for the Mathematics Freshman Scholarship ($500), the Math Is Fun Scholarship ($200) or the Evelyn Maxwell Scholarship ($200). For more information, see the Scholarships and Financial Aid page.
For more information
