Trust your preparation: You have already done all of the preparation for the competition; no need to stress or get anxious before the contest begins! You’ve got this!

Believe in yourself: If you are questioning whether you’re good enough, just know that you are more than good enough! It takes real courage and determination to register for a contest, let alone the time preparing for it. 

Pace yourself wisely: Don’t spend too much time on any one hard problem and solve the ones that are easier first. You will gain momentum and feel confident in yourself after knocking some of the problems out.

Read carefully: Read each question carefully. Skimming through questions is one of the most common ways to make silly mistakes and can be easily avoidable through patience and understanding the question word for word. 

Stay hydrated: Yes, really! It is proven that drinking water will increase brain function and critical-thinking skills. Also, getting a headache from dehydration during a competition will impact your problem solving abilities. 

Connect with mathematicians: Math competitions are an amazing way to make lifelong friendships, especially with people who share the same interests and love for math!

Enjoy the experience: During the contest, don’t think too much about the result or scores. As Dr. Alice Cortinovis once said, “If a math competition goes well, that’s great! If it doesn’t, who cares?” That being said, the key for success for any contest is to practice beforehand. 

Be curious: Approach the competition experience with an open mind. It is never too late to learn something new and staying curious will help you make the most out of the contest. Every competition is a chance to learn something new.

Set a personal goal: Setting a new goal for each math competition will boost your self-confidence, and you will truly use the competition experience to your advantage.

Have fun: Lastly, have a good time during the contest! Math competitions are supposed to be fun, so celebrate it while you have the chance.

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A few days ago, I got a valuable opportunity to be on my school’s Purple Comet Team! Purple Comet “is a free, annual, international, online, team, mathematics competition designed for middle and high school students that has been held every year since 2003” (https://purplecomet.org/). This year 3,752 teams from 75 countries registered for the competition, an incredible testament to the global love and importance for math.

Our team of six challenged ourselves in each problem with focus and determination and felt rewarded after solving them, sharing our ideas, and supporting one another. It wasn’t just about getting the right answers – it was about collaboration, critical-thinking, and bonding over our love of math. 

Personally, there was one aspect of the competition that could have been better; more girls on my school team and the competition. When I shared the list of team members with one of my math teachers, his first reaction was, “Oh! You’re the only girl.” It wasn’t because other girls weren’t capable of solving problems; however, the reason was more about the discouragement and self-doubt that prohibited them from competing. When I encouraged one of my math-loving friends to join, she frowned and said, “Mihika, I’m not good enough!” That was a sad moment for me as she is one of the smartest and talented people I know. 

One piece of advice I would give to all of the girls is that if I learned to believe in myself, everyone can do the same. Sometimes, I lack confidence and tell myself that I am not as knowledgeable or skilled, but I then remember that there are people who support me in everything I do, especially the math team. As I wrote in my earlier blog on Math + Girls = Fun, Dr. Cortinovis said, “If a math competition goes well, that’s great! If it doesn’t, who cares? So, participate because you have nothing to lose.”  

Also, team competitions are priceless ways to begin the math competition journey and gain experience because most members are uplifting, inspiring, and contributing to a positive team morale. So, take the first step. You are more than good enough.

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Sophie Germain was born on April 1, 1776 and later in her life, she became one of the most remarkable French mathematicians of all time. In her early life, Germain fought for her rights to education, enduring her parents’ opposition to learning and proving them wrong in the future. Even today, girls do not receive enough support and encouragement in mathematics and the majority of participants in math competitions are boys. From a Wall Street Journal article, published on January 5, 2025, Long the Star Pupils, Girls Are Losing Ground to Boys, the author wrote, “Boys now consistently outperform girls in math.” 

Germain helped narrow down the gender gap in her time by managing to find books and other resources about mathematics and other topics she was interested in. Over the course of her life, many people know her as the first woman to receive a prestigious award from the Paris Academy of Sciences’ on her work in the field of elasticity and for proving the Sophie Germain Theorem. However, the awards that Germain earned barely scratch the surface of all of her successes. 

She was also recognized for her work and inspiration from Carl Friedrich Gauss, a notable German mathematician, who worked together with number theory. Despite her talent, Germain had to disguise herself with the pseudonym of M. LeBlanc because a woman in mathematics was unacceptable by society at the time. Years later, she was the understudy of more famous mentors, such as Legendre, and developed her research in number theory and other mathematical topics. One of her quotes that inspired me was “It matters little who first arrives at an idea, rather what is significant is how far that idea can go.”

Sophie Germain is truly a female mathematician to be motivated by, from struggling to study mathematics even though it was discouraged to becoming one of the most noteworthy mathematicians. Her story taught me to always push for my rights to education and not allow anyone to make me feel inferior to them through my deep passion for math as her. 

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Have you ever wondered how astronauts were sent to the moon and back safely? Katherine Johnson, a female mathematician, was born on August 26, 1918 in West Virginia, and her work influenced NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and the discoveries of the universe. 

At a young age, Katherine’s love of math and number theory was apparent, despite her father being a lumberman and her mother as a school teacher. Katherine’s intelligence wound her up in high school at the age of ten! In West Virginia University, she was selected to be one of three African American students to take a graduate program in 1939. 

In 1953, she joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), now NASA, as one of the few African American mathematicians to solve problems, analyze data, and were a key part of the successful missions to the moon. Interestingly, the women were known as “computers”. Her calculations of placing spacecrafts, such as Freedom 7, Friendship 7, and Apollo 11, into orbit which helped open doors for NASA’s future missions and findings from space.

In 1986, Katherine retired and became a public figure, encouraging girls to work hard and never give up. Additionally, in 2015, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the 44th president of the United States at the time, Barack Obama. “In her 33 years at NASA, Katherine was a pioneer who broke the barriers of race and gender, showing generations of young people that everyone can excel in math and science, and reach for the stars,” Obama said.

Katherine’s story inspires me to continue chasing my dreams, pushing through the gender gap and expanding the female math community.

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My school’s math team consisted of six students, two girls (including me) and four boys, to compete in the Caltech Math Meet (CMM). CMM is a math competition for high school students organized by the students of Caltech. We left school early to arrive at the San Francisco airport on time and headed to security first. It was the emptiest I have seen at an airport, so we had extra time on our hands to do homework and study for tests. After 1.5 hours, we boarded the plane, which flew us to LAX in forty minutes, the shortest flight of my life. From LAX, we drove one hour to the hotel, got dinner, and slept at 11:30 PM. At 5:30 in the morning, we woke up, showered, and walked to a breakfast place nearby. After packing our bags, we drove to Caltech and checked in. For the opening ceremony at 8:30 AM, we sat in the Ramo Auditorium for instructions on the individual and team rounds later that day. We headed over to Baxter for the ninety-minute individual round. The problems challenged me, but I felt accomplished afterward for solving many of them correctly! 

Outside of the Ramo Auditorium, the competition staff of Caltech provided lunch for all the teams. It was wonderful to see hundreds of other math lovers on a green lawn together, frantically discussing the problems from the first test. Additionally, I finally met the hardworking former president of Athemath, Vivian Loh, in person. As a member of the Athemath community, I would describe the organization as a brilliant way to draw together ambitious girls, the marginalized gender in mathematics.

As a team, we walked around the beautiful campus and headed to the next round, the proof-based team contest in Hameetman. There were many teams in the room, and I loved looking up to the way other members of my team brought unique insights to problem-solving. Even though we could not solve all of them in the allotted one hour, we tried our best to solve most of them.

After the team round (the last exam), we tried to reschedule our flight earlier, so we unfortunately did not stay for the awards ceremony. We also did not arrive at the airport in time; therefore, we decided to go to Sofi Stadium for team bonding and reward for the intense competition. After taking pictures of the stadium and Rivers Lake, we went to the airport for our flight. 

Overall, the experience was memorable, worthy, and rewarding. Spending time making new friendships and memories through a shared passion, gaining more math competition experience, and lots of laughs was what my two-day trip was all about.

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