27 March 2007

NUS team: Outstanding Winner in solving real-world problem

A team from the Department of Statistics and Applied Probability has emerged Outstanding Winner at the 23rd annual Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) organised by the US-based Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP), an award-winning non-profit organisation whose mission is to improve mathematics education for students of all ages.

Comprising Liu Bolun, Hou Xuan and Wang Hao with Prof Yannis Yatracos as advisor, the team was designated Outstanding Winner along with top universities like Duke University, Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The team offered solution for Problem B which required contestants to devise and compare procedures for boarding and deboarding planes with varying sizes from 85 to 800. They were also required to write an executive summary, setting out their conclusions to an audience of airline executives, gate agents and flight crews. 

MCM challenges teams of students to clarify, analyse, and propose solutions to open-ended problems. The 2007 contest was primarily an online contest. During the contest, teams of up to three undergraduates researched, modelled and submitted a solution to one of two modelling problems. Teams registered, obtained contest materials, and downloaded the problem and data at the prescribed time through COMAP's MCM website.

SOLVING REAL-WORLD PROBLEMS: The NUS team has to come out with a model to devise and compare procedures for boarding and deboarding planes with varying sizes.

Almost 950 teams representing institutions from 12 countries participated in the contest — with 14 teams from 11 institutions (representing 1 per cent of total participants) snaring the title. Singapore, represented by NUS was among the 666 international teams which took part outside the US.   

The 14 Outstanding solution papers will be published in The UMAP Journal, along with commentary from the authors and other judges.