Registration is now open for the Seventh Annual Montana Mathematical Modeling Challenge (MMMC), which takes place Saturday, October 17 through Sunday, October 18 on the Carroll College campus in Helena, Montana. This 24-hour contest gives your students the chance to apply the math, data science, statistics, and computer science they learn in the classroom to real-world modeling problems.
In teams of three, students will be presented with open-ended, industry-inspired problems which they can solve using any mathematical, statistical, or computational methods they choose. Teams are allowed to use any inanimate references they can find (books, articles, notes, internet sources, computer code, AI, LLM, stone tablets, etc.) but are not allowed to confer with anyone except their own team members.
Our problems are intended to be approachable on several levels: accessible to students in Calculus I and yet challenging even for senior math majors.
Examples of past problems
- Wildfire evacuation in Glacier National Park: Plan how ranger teams could reach remote campgrounds, guide hikers to safety, and estimate evacuation times.
- Presidential campaign strategy: Model how campaigns should allocate visits and resources if Electoral College rules changed.
- Hospital space planning: Analyze anonymized patient data to recommend how much space hospital services need and which should be located near one another.
- Drone search and tagging: Design a strategy for drones to find and tag fictional, fast-moving dinosaurs despite limited battery life and imperfect detection.
Registration
Due to space limitations, we may impose a two-team maximum limit per institution, but it doesn't hurt to ask for more!
We will provide:
- food (4 meals plus snacks for participants)
- dedicated classroom workspaces
- wireless internet access for each team
- prize drawings for participants
- cash prizes for winning teams ($300 per winning team!).
More information is available at carroll.edu/math-modeling-contests.
Deadlines
Space is limited, so please respond quickly!
- Early Bird registration deadline: Friday, October 2nd (Registration fee $100 per team)
- Final registration deadline: Friday, October 9th (Registration fee $150 per team)
