Math Madness

Math should be fun. Celebrate the March NCAA College Basketball Tournament with a Tournament of your own. Cost? NOTHING!!!

Most everyone gets mesmerized by the NCAA college basketball tournament, even people who have no clue about basketball. I am convinced what fascinates people are the brackets with those seemingly infinite permutations of possible games along with the seedings – the very real possibility that a lower seed could knock off a high seed.

A number of years ago, I put together my own version of March Madness, called, appropriately, Math Madness. Recently I dug it out of a closet and thought I would present it to everyone.

In short, it is a tournament that requires quick answers to math questions. Most of the questions are algebraic or geometric in nature. Only a few delve into logs or trig and no questions use calculus. So if you have some sharp underclassmen, they are welcome to join in and compete with the big boys taking calculus!

The tournament allows for 16 teams, each of two (or more, if you wish) members so you can get a lot of students involved. Each round consists of 9 questions (note the baseball theme) containing a toss-up question worth 3 points and a bonus question worth 7 points (note the football theme). The winner of a round moves onto the next round.

It is suggested that you play tournament games before or after school. They should take no more than 30 minutes. You can choose the teams or let the kids choose their own. You can decide seedings, which, like the real tournament will get students talking and arguing!

Included in Math Madness are 40 toss-up questions and 40 bonus questions, both in PDF format. It is meant to be used with a computer projector and the printing is large enough to be seen all over a room. You also get the answers to the questions and an Excel program to score each round.

What’s more – everything is free! There is nothing to buy. Just my way of thanking all of you for the support you have given my website over the years.

So, if you want to show that math can be fun and exciting, simply download all the relatively small files below along with the Instruction file and get started on your school’s version of Math Madness!