March Randomness 2021: Congratulations to our Winners!
April 2, 2021
This spring, This is Statistics launched a new contest: March Randomness, a month-long challenge that encouraged students to test their probability intuition skills, inspired by the Borel board game. The inaugural March Randomness contest drew in 214 participating teams.
How it worked: Every Monday through Thursday throughout March, we posed a new probability experiment to students – for example, “flip a coin four times; will you get a head exactly once?” – and asked them to predict the outcome. To keep things interesting, we also asked them to back up their prediction with a wager from their stash of “StatCoins.” The next day, after the betting window closed, a celebrity statistician conducted the challenge experiment and revealed the official outcome on video (watch the challenge results!). Teams watched their StatCoin fortunes shrink and grow on the leaderboard every day as they competed with peers in their school or division – or even just against themselves.
After 16 rounds of challenges and exciting outcomes, we’re excited to announce the winning teams!
Congratulations to our winning teams!
Best Pre-College Team
First Place
A Fraction Ahead
Students: Alaina Smith and Delfina Szigethy
Sponsored By: Heather Pessy
Institution: Mt. Lebanon High School, Pittsburgh, PA
Second Place
Elidia R
Student: Elidia Reyes
Institution: Wayne High School, Fort Wayne, IN
Third Place
Mathster’s Stupefying 1 Stars
Students: Molly, Miles, Stella, Trevor, Roman, Talon, Sam, Patrick, Myles, Beckley, Timothy, Will, Sarah, Reece, Laurel, Macy and Sarah
Sponsored By: Jeremy Willis
Institution: Mariemont Junior High School, Fairfax, OH
Best Undergraduate Team
First Place
SiegeChauffantDansLeMercobenz
Students: Scott McGuigan, Alexis Morel, Clément Verdier and Chloé Le Chevalier
Sponsored By: Nadine Lynn-Martinsons
Institution: Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
Second Place
Rah Prof. Aliyev!
Students: Yang Hsia, Nicolas Shier and Zachary Branner
Sponsored By: Dr. Denis Aliyev
Institution: Virginia Military Institute, Lexington City, VA
Third Place
Rambler
Student: Charles Hwang
Institution: Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL
Thank you to all the students and teachers who participated in our first March Randomness Spring Contest!
Watch all 16 challenges and the outcomes here.
Be the first to know about future contests by signing up for our email list.
Related Posts
Hindsight Is 2023 for Former Statistics and Data Science Students
It’s back-to-school season! Gear up for the upcoming semester and consider diving into the captivating world of statistics and data science. Looking for diverse job opportunities that span across every industry? Look no further! With a variety of graduate programs and jobs, now is a great time for students to become data scientists and statisticians….
Elizabeth J. Kelly: “Statistics is for Adrenaline Junkies”
Elizabeth J. Kelly has always loved math, and as a professional statistician at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and a recreational rock climber, Elizabeth is an avid thrill-seeker who enjoys a challenge. “Math reminds me of climbing, including the need to focus, problem solve and persevere. I guess I ended up in statistics because I…