OJH Math Team

Team,

(The previous email was an email I scheduled yesterday, assuming there was no way you’d have 3 snow days in a row.)

I know you are all disappointed that school is closed tomorrow and were worried we wouldn’t have our normal meeting.

Don’t worry: I reserved the large conference room at the Wright Library from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm tomorrow. It’s an optional practice. (All practices are technically optional.)

Even better news: There will be pizza!

We’ll be practicing the team round.

Please email to let me know if you will be at the Wright Library at 11:30 tomorrow, so I know how much pizza to get.

Take care,
Coach Ben

On Tue, Jan 27, 2026 at 4:00 PM Ben Boehm <mathcoachben> wrote:

Reminder: wear your Math Team Shirt to practice tomorrow

On Mon, Jan 26, 2026 at 2:49 PM Ben Boehm <mathcoachben> wrote:

Team,

We will be doing the MathCounts school team round on Wednesday. The teams will be assigned, so most of you won’t be at your normal tables.

We will take a team picture after the team round. Please wear your team shirt to practice.

Enjoy the snow day,
Coach Ben

Team,

We will be doing the MathCounts school team round on Wednesday. The teams will be assigned, so most of you won’t be at your normal tables.

We will take a team picture after the team round. Please wear your team shirt to practice.

Enjoy the snow day,
Coach Ben

Team,

Great work on the Target Round today. There were some pretty challenging questions. Congratulations to Xutao for getting 6 correct and to Adrian, Adam, and Lucien for getting 5 correct. Special shoutout to Mingsu and Xutao for being the only ones to get question #8 correct. I’m proud of the effort everyone put in. The problems and answers are attached.

The individual MathCounts score is the Sprint Round plus twice the Target Round. The first 4 spots (Team A) for Chapter MathCounts are determined by the individual MathCounts Score. The next 4 spots are also determined by individual MathCounts Score. Ties were broken using MOEMS scores. The final 6 competition spots are determined by bonus points. This year we are also able to bring alternates who will get to participate in the competition.

I am very excited about bringing this team to the Dayton Chapter MathCounts on February 7. I think Team A has an opportunity to earn a state team qualifying spot, and I think some individuals on Team B and Team C are in a good position to earn individual state qualifying spots.

Here are the results determining the OJH MathCounts Team:

		MathCounts Total	Sprint	Target			Bonus work	Tie Breaker – MOEMS
Top 4 scores	Team A	37	27	5	Adrian		17
	Team A	34	22	6	Xutao		12
	Team A	31	23	4	Max K		7
	Team A	30	20	5	Adam		10	11
scores 5-8	Team B	30	20	5	Lucien		18	8
	Team B	26	20	3	Erica		13	7
	Team B	26	20	3	Agam		18	10
	Team B	25	19	3	Jonathan		20	11
Most Bonus Work	Team C	17	13	2	Josiah		21
	Team C	20	14	3	Chenya		14
	Team C	19	15	2	Evey		14
	Team C	16	14	1	Dan W		6
	Team C	25	19	3	Scout		4	9
	Team C	25	19	3	Peter		3	7
	Alternate	21	17	2	Mingsu		0

We have room for 1 more alternate, if any of the team members who originally said they did not want to attend become available.

Good work,

Coach Ben

 

Team,

This week we are taking the MathCounts Team Target round. This score will be combined with the score from last week to determine the first 8 mathcounts spots.

The week is the last week for bonus work to count for the other 6 spots for MathCounts. If you want to go to MathCounts, I highly recommend turning in bonus work.

Thank you to those of you who completed the competition availability form. Everyone’s availability is below. If you need to make a change, please let me know.

Student Name:	AMC 8 – 27 Jan	Chapter MathCounts 7 Feb	Mini MathCounts 11 Feb	travel to Mini- MathCounts	UC Math Bowl 7 Mar
Adam	Yes	Yes	No		No
Adrian	Yes	Yes	Yes	me	Yes
Agam	Yes	Yes	No		No
Anzhi	No	Yes	Yes	me	Yes
Ben	No	No	No		No
Chenya	No	No	No		No
Dan W	Yes	Yes	Yes	need ride	Yes
Danny O	Yes	No	No		Yes
Delaney	???	???	???	???	???
Erica	Yes	Yes	No		Yes
Evey	Yes	Yes	No		Yes
Finn	No	No	No		No
Jonathan	Yes	Yes	Yes	me	Yes
Josiah	No	Yes	No		No
Julius	No	No	No		No
Lochlan	Yes	No	Yes	me+others	Yes
Lucas	No	No	No		No
Lucien	Yes	Yes	Yes	need ride	Yes
Max K	Yes	Yes	Yes	me+others	Yes
Minghsu	Yes	Yes	Yes	me+others	Yes
Peter	No	Yes	Yes	need ride	Yes
Scout	Yes	Yes	No		No
Skylar	???	???	???	???	???
Tiernan	Yes	No	No		No
Xutao	Yes	Yes	Yes	me	Yes
Yichen	No	No	No		No
Zhengzhao	No	No	No		No

Take care,
Coach Ben

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the competition today. I’m excited by everyone’s scores.

Before I get to the results:

– Please fill out the form on availability for competition by Friday.

– The last day to turn in bonus work to count toward MathCounts is next week. As a reminder, the minimum points needed to qualify for MathCounts via bonus points is 4.

– Scores this week will be combined with scores in the Target Round next week to determine the top 8 spots for MathCounts. If you will not be at practice next week and want to participate, let me know ASAP, and I will try to work something out.

Results:
Our top 3 scores today were: Adrian (27), Max K. (23), Xutao (22). Erica, Adam, Agam, and Lucien tied for 4th with 20 points. Jonathan, Peter, and Scout tied for 8th with 19 points.

I compared today’s scores to the practice competition we took in September. For the 8th graders who took the school test last year, I also compared those scores.

The scores that increased by the highest percentage compared to September were: Ben (200%), Erica (150%), Delaney (140%), Scout (138%), and Tiernan (100%).

The scores for the 8th graders that increased the most over their 7th grade scores are: Dan W. (180%), Delaney (120%), Erica (122%), Adam (122%), and Agam (54%). Shout out to Table 1 and their coaches, Sage and Madeline, for having 4 out of the 5 most improved since last year.

If you have a problem you want me to go over, please email me.

Take care,
Coach Ben

 

Team,This week we are taking the School MathCounts Sprint Round. This is the first of 2 school competitions that determines which OJH students will compete at Dayton MathCounts.

If you are not going to be there, let me know ASAP, and I will try to find another opportunity for you to take the competition.

Here is our upcoming schedule:

Wednesdays	Wednesday Lunch	Competitions after school or on weekends
14-Jan-26	School MathCounts Sprint (determines MathCounts Attendance)
21-Jan-26	School MathCounts Target (determines MathCounts attendance)	Last day for bonus points to count for MathCounts
		27 Jan 2026 Tuesday after school, AMC 8.  Self-register at the link sent via email.
28-Jan-26	School MathCounts Team
4-Feb-26	Regular Practice
		7 Feb 2026, Saturday, Chapter MathCounts at Wright State
11-Feb-26	MOEMS #4 (Dr. Gupta)
11-Feb-26		11 Feb 2026, Wednesday Mini-MathCounts – leave school at 2:45pm
18-Feb-26	No practice (February Break)
25-Feb-26	Regular Practice
4-Mar-26	Regular Practice
7-Mar-26		7 Mar 2025, Saturday, University of Cincinnati Math Bowl
7-Mar-26		7 Mar 2026, Saturday State MathCounts – Columbus
11-Mar-26	Pi day celebration
18-Mar-26	MOEMS #5
25-Mar-26	No practice (Spring Break)

Take care,
Coach Ben

Team,

The next couple months are what we have be preparing for this school year. We have 8 competitions in the next 2 months. There’s a lot going on, so here is an update with all the competitions in the same place. For Saturday competitions, Parents would be responsible for getting kids to and from the competition, but we can help facilitate carpools. I’m working on the logistics for the competition in Loveland on Feb 11.

Please fill out the form with your availability by Friday. If something comes up later, you can update your availability by emailing me.  There is a link to the form in the original email.

Jan 14 and 21, Wednesday during lunch practice:

School MathCounts Sprint and Target Round competitions. The results of these competitions will determine the first 8 spots for MathCounts. Jan 21 is the last day to turn in bonus work for it to count for the next 6 spots for MathCounts.

Jan 26, Tuesday after school, OJH Library:

AMC 8. If you would like to compete in the AMC 8, please register at the link sent via email.

Anyone who wants to compete can compete.

Feb 7, Saturday, 8:30 am to 3:00pm at Wright State:

Dayton Chapter MathCounts. We can take 14 competitors plus 2 alternates. The first 8 spots will be determined by School MathCounts competition on Jan 14 and 21. The next 6 spots will be determined by bonus work. The two alternates will be chosen by the coaches. The alternates will get to participate in the competition, but their contests won’t be scored. There is a $40 registration fee.

**New** Feb 11, Wednesday, 4:00pm to 6:00pm at St. Margaret of York School in Loveland:

SMOY MiniMathCounts. Everything is the same as a full MathCounts contest but just cut in half (Sprint round 20 min for 15 Questions instead of 40 for 30 Questions, for example). We should be able to bring everyone who wants to go. It’s about an hour drive from OJH to Loveland. The kids would need to get out of school at 2:45pm. I’m excited about this opportunity.

Feb 11, Wednesday during lunch practice:

Math Olympiad #4. Dr Gupta will join us.

Mar 7, Saturday at Ohio State University – Hitchcock Hall:

State MathCounts. Students who qualify at the Dayton Chapter MathCounts (Feb 7), will get to compete in the State MathCounts competition.

Mar 7, Saturday, 8:30 to 2:00 at University of Cincinnati:

UC Math Bowl. Any student who wants to go (who is not participating in State MathCounts) can compete. This is team-based competition. There is no individual round.

Please fill out your availability by Friday.

There is a link to the form in the original email.

 

Take care,

Coach Ben

Team,

Great job on Math Olympiad #3 today. Congratulations to Adrian, Erica, Jonathan, and Max for getting 5 out of 5! Additional shoutout to those 4 plus Delaney for getting question 5 correct. That was a tough problem.

Our average score was 2.8, compared to a national average of 2.6, so far.

I have attached the problems and solutions.

The bonus work for January is the full 2024 Chapter MathCounts competition. It was emailed out on Dec 14 and is on ojhmathteam.org. See the table below for due dates.

The schedule for the next 3 weeks is:

	Wednesday Practice Schedule	What Bonus work is due	Other notes
14-Jan-26	School MathCounts Sprint (determines MathCounts Attendance)	2024 Chapter Sprint 16-30
21-Jan-26	School MathCounts Target (determines MathCounts attendance)	2024 Chapter Target	Last day for bonus points to count for MathCounts
			27 Jan 2026 Tues, AMC 8
28-Jan-26	School MathCounts Team	2024 Chapter team

Take care,
Coach Ben

AMC 8
If you want to take the AMC 8 on January 27th, but have not filled out the form, please do so:https://forms.gle/rAE3o3Fh7C3YV6Li9

2026
Our first practice of 2026 will be Math Olympiad #3. The 3 weeks after that are the school MathCounts competition. If you are going to miss any of those days (Jan 7, 14, and 21) and want to participate, let me know as soon as possible.

The schedule for the next 4 weeks is:

	Wednesday Practice Schedule	What Bonus work is due	Other notes
7-Jan-26	MOEMS #3	2024 Chapter Sprint 1-15
14-Jan-26	School MathCounts Sprint (determines MathCounts Attendance)	2024 Chapter Sprint 16-30
21-Jan-26	School MathCounts Target (determines MathCounts attendance)	2024 Chapter Target	Last day for bonus points to count for MathCounts
			27 Jan 2026 Tues, AMC 8
28-Jan-26	School MathCounts Team	2024 Chapter team

Bonus work:
The bonus work for January is the full 2024 Chapter MathCounts competition. It was emailed out on Dec 14 and is on ojhmathteam.org. I gave it to you all at once so you can work on it over winter break, if you choose to. When completing the bonus work, if you get stuck, even after looking at the solution, I recommend hand copying down the full solution. The due dates are in the schedule above. If you get it done early, you can turn it in early.

Dayton Chapter MathCounts, Feb 7:
We can bring 14 OJH students (plus possibly 2 alternates) to Dayton MathCounts at Wright State, Feb 7, from ~8:30am to ~3:30pm.
The competitions we do during practice on 14 and 21 January will be used to determine the first 8 spots on the MathCounts team. The next 6 spots will be determined by bonus work. The last opportunity to turn in bonus work to earn a spot for MathCounts attendance is 21 Jan 2026.

MathCounts Trainer
If anyone goes up 3 or more levels in the MathCounts trainer over break (aops.com/mc), in addition to the usual reward, you can choose a full-size candybar.

As a reminder, this and previous emails are archived at ojhmathteam.org. That page also has links to flashcards with helpful information.

Take care,

Coach Ben

Team,

We will take the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) American Mathematics Competition (AMC) 8 on Tuesday, January 27. The AMC 8 is a competition designed for 7th and 8th graders. 9th and 10th graders take the AMC 10 and 11th and 12th graders take the AMC 12. The AMC 10 and AMC 12 are the first steps in qualifying for the USA team in prestigious international mathematics competitions. The AMC 8 is good preparation for the later tests.
https://maa.org/student-programs/amc/

The AMC 8 is a completely optional competition, but I hope most people choose to participate. Due to our January schedule, I will administer the AMC 8, outside of our normal Wednesday practices. I can administer the competition at lunch or after school January 27th (but not both).

If you are interested in taking the AMC 8, please complete the following form to let me know when you are available. I’ll use the responses to determine when to administer the test.
https://forms.gle/rAE3o3Fh7C3YV6Li9

I have attached the AMC 8 we did as bonus work just before and after Thanksgiving, if you want to refresh your memory on what kinds of problems they ask.

Take care,
Coach Ben

AMC 8 2022.pdf

2022 AMC 8 solutions.pdf

Team,

We will not meet for the next 3 weeks (due to exams and winter break). Our practice schedule through February is pasted at the bottom of this email. If you are going to miss any of the competitions and want to participate, tell me in advance, and I’ll do my best to find another time for you to take it. If you are home from school sick that day, email me in the morning.

Bonus work:
Last Wednesday, I handed out the bonus work for January (The full 2024 Chapter MathCounts competition). I gave it to you all at once so you can work on it over winter break, if you choose to. When completing the bonus work, if you get stuck, even after looking at the solution, I recommend hand copying down the full solution.

The due dates for the bonus work are:

7-Jan-26	2024 Chapter Sprint 1-15
14-Jan-26	2024 Chapter Sprint 16-30
21-Jan-26	2024 Chapter Target
28-Jan-26	2024 Chapter team

If you get it done early, you can turn it in early.

Qualifying for Dayton Chapter MathCounts:
The competitions we do during practice on 14 and 21 January will be used to determine the MathCounts team. The last opportunity to turn in bonus work to earn a spot for MathCounts attendance is 21 Jan 2026.
The attached “Description of Math Competitions and Bonus work 2026.docx” explains how the teams will be chosen for Dayton Chapter MathCounts.

MathCounts Trainer
If anyone goes up 3 or more levels in the MathCounts trainer (aops.com/mc), in addition to the usual reward, you can choose a full-size candybar.

As a reminder, this and previous emails are archived at ojhmathteam.org. That page also has links to flashcards with helpful information.

17-Dec-25	No practice – Semester Exams
24-Dec-25	No practice – Holiday Break
31-Dec-25	No practice – Holiday Break
7-Jan-26	MOEMS #3
14-Jan-26	School MathCounts Sprint (determines MathCounts Attendance)
21-Jan-26	School MathCounts Target (determines MathCounts attendance)	Last day for bonus points to count for MathCounts
		27 Jan 2026 Tues, AMC 8
28-Jan-26	School MathCounts Team
4-Feb-26	Regular Practice
		7 Feb 2026, Saturday, Chapter MathCounts at Wright State
11-Feb-26	MOEMS #4 (Dr. Gupta)
18-Feb-26	No Practice – February Break
25-Feb-26	Regular Practice

Good luck on exams!

– Coach Ben

2024 COMPLETE Chapter Team (FINAL).pdf

2024 COMPLETE Chapter Sprint (FINAL).pdf

2024 Chapter Solutions.pdf

2024 COMPLETE Chapter Target (FINAL).pdf

Description of Math Competitions and Bonus work 2026.docx

Great work to everyone on the prime number and pythagorean triple challenge. After the challenge, we worked on some problems that incorporated some competition question strategies, like using prime numbers and pythagorean triples to identify shortcuts in some problems. We also worked on some problems from workout 3. The problems and solutions from both of those are attached.

As a note, the expectation is that when you get stuck on a problem during practice, you ask one of your teammates or coaches to help you. If you simply stop when you get to a problem you don’t know how to solve, you get stuck in a frustrating loop. Because you didn’t do the problem, you didn’t learn how to do it, so you’ll continue to be in that situation every time that kind of question comes up. Instead of the joy of solving new problems, you get continually stuck. One of the differences between math team and math class is that in math team, the students have most of the responsibility and ownership for their progress and performance.

The bonus work for this week is Warm-up 6. Those problems and solutions are attached.

Next week we are taking Math Olympiad #2. This is an official competition. (We took Math Olympiad #1 on Nov 12.) If you absolutely do not want to take Math Olympiad #2, let me know by Monday evening. If there are multiple students that do not want to participate, Coach Rob will hold a separate practice in another classroom. However, I highly encourage everyone to participate because it helps the team, and working on hard problems is how we learn and get better.

Take care,
Coach Ben

strategy problem solutions Dec 3.pdf

Math Competition Strategy Practice 1 Dec 2025 problems.docx

workout 3 solutions.pdf

Workout 3 problems.pdf

Warm up 6 solutions.pdf

Warm up 6 problems.pdf

If you are not available for the Dayton Chapter MathCounts on February 7 at Wright State, please let me know.

Thank you,
Coach Ben

Team,

Congratulations on your performance on the Prime number and pythagorean challenge. This is by far the most people who have gotten both the prime numbers and pythagorean triples correct. 12 students correctly wrote down the prime numbers under 100 and first 4 pythagorean triples in under 3 minutes. (For context, we had 4 last year.) We had 3 students get only the primes and 2 students get only the pythagorean triples.

Congratulations to the students listed below. I have updated the bonus work spreadsheet and will have candy for you next week.

primes and triples (3 points)

Adrian

Agam

Ben

Chenya

Erica

Evey

Jonathan

Josiah

Lucien

Max

Peter

Xutao

primes (1 point)

Dan

Delaney

Lochlan

pythagorean triples (1 point)

Adam

Tiernan

Take care,
Coach Ben

Prime numbers and pythagorean triples.docx

Team,

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

As a reminder, we will start practice on Wednesday with a 3-minute prime number and pythagorean triple challenge. You will have 3 minutes to write down the the prime numbers between 1 and 100 and the first 4 pythagorean triples. If you get the prime numbers right, you get a bonus point. If you get the pythagorean triples right, you get 1 bonus point. If you get both right, you get an extra bonus point for a total of 3 points. There’s an attachment with a list of the prime numbers and pythagorean triples. I have also created flashcards to help you study at https://ojhmathteam.org/flash-cards/

After the challenge we will practice some math competition strategies.

Take care,
Coach Ben

Prime numbers and pythagorean triples.docx

Team,

Please see the bottom of this email for a list of attachments.

No practice next week due to Thanksgiving Break. If that’s too long for you to go without math team, I encourage you to do the mathcounts trainer (https://artofproblemsolving.com/mathcounts_trainer/).

Our next practice will be December 3rd. At the beginning of practice, we will have our annual prime number and pythagorean triple challenge. You will be given 3 minutes to write down the prime numbers under 100 and the first 4 pythagorean triples. If you get the prime numbers right, you get a bonus point. If you get the pythagorean triples right, you get 1 bonus point. If you get both right, you get an extra bonus point for a total of 3 points. There’s an attachment with a list of the prime numbers and pythagorean triples. I have also created flashcards to help you study at https://ojhmathteam.org/flash-cards/

Our upcoming schedule is pasted below (and attached). Thanksgiving through February is our busy season. From Thanksgiving until February, most of our practices will be competitions. There are a lot of weeks with no practice due to testing or break. The results from Jan 14 and Jan 21 will be used to select the first 8 spots on our Chapter MathCounts team. Jan 21 is the last day to turn in bonus work to earn one of the other 6 spots for MathCounts. To earn a spot with bonus points, you need to complete the Sprint Round (Jan 14) and/or the Target round (Jan 21).

If you are going to miss a practice with a competition and want to take the competition, let me know as far in advance as possible. I will try to work out an alternate way for you to complete the competition.

Wednesdays
26-Nov-25	No practice – Thanksgiving
3-Dec-25	Prime number/Pythagorean triple quiz
10-Dec-25	MOEMS #2
17-Dec-25	No practice – Semester Exams
24-Dec-25	No practice – Holiday Break
31-Dec-25	No practice – Holiday Break
7-Jan-26	MOEMS #3
14-Jan-26	School MathCounts Sprint
21-Jan-26	School MathCounts Target	Last day for bonus points to count for MathCounts
		26 or 27 Jan 2026, Mon or Tues, AMC 8
28-Jan-26	School MathCounts Team
4-Feb-26	Regular Practice
		2/7/2026, Saturday, Chapter MathCounts at Wright State
11-Feb-26	MOEMS #4
18-Feb-26	No Practice – February Break

Attachments:
The 2 warmups we did during practice and their solutions (warmup 4 and warmup 5).
The bonus work (2022 AMC 8 12-25) and solutions.
The handout with "what every young mathlete should know."
A handout with prime numbers and pythagorean triples
Our schedule through February 18.

Take care,
Coach Ben

warm up 5 solutions.pdf

Warm up 5.pdf

Warm up 4.pdf

Warm up 4 solutions.pdf

2022 AMC 8 12-25.pdf

2022 AMC 8 12-25 solutions.pdf

What Every Young Mathlete Should Know (simplified).pdf

Prime numbers and pythagorean triples.docx

OJH Math Team upcoming schedule.xlsx

Team,

The shirts are in! I will bring them to practice on Wednesday to hand out.

The printer recommended washing the shirts inside out, and hanging them to dry. Do not put the in the dryer.

The supplier did not have Adult XS, so if you ordered an Adult XS, you will receive a Youth XL.

The supplier also did not have enough mediums in stock. We have 5 medium shirts on back-order. For Danny, Eli, Scout, Adrian, and ZhengZhao, I will give you a medium t-shirt on Wednesday, and will give you your jersey when it comes in. I expect that to be in December or early January.

Take care,Coach Ben

Team,
Great job on the first Math Olympiad. When I looked at the contest yesterday, I thought it looked harder than a usual November MOEMS, but you guys crushed it. As a team, we scored an average of about 0.7 points above where we scored last year (relative to the national average).

Twelve out of 25 OJH students participating in the competition scored 4 out of 5 points. Congratulations to: Adam, Adrian, Danny, Erica, Jonathan, Josiah, Lucien, Max, Peter, Scout, Tiernan, and Xutao.

There was one person who did get all 5 correct: Principal Badenhop!

Independent of how many questions you were able to conquer, I always admire your ability to focus and work on difficult problems.

If you want to see how you did, the results are on the MOEMS tab of the bonus work spreadsheet.
I will bring your papers next week, so you can review them.

The contest and solutions are attached. Those kinds of questions come up frequently. I’m also happy to make a video if people think it would be helpful. Just let me know. (I’ll write on paper, not a tablet.)

Shout out to Jonathan, Max, and Adrian for taking the AMC 10. The AMC 10 is a test for 10th graders, and even for 10th graders, it’s challenging.

The bonus work is the 2022 AMC 8 questions 1-11. It is attached to this email and was stapled to the back of the solutions we handed out on Wednesday.

Our first meeting after Thanksgiving (Dec 3), we will have our annual prime number and pythagorean triples challenge. If you can write down the prime numbers between 1 and 100 and the first 4 pythagorean triples, you will get up to 3 bonus points. I attached a sheet listing the prime numbers 1-100, and the first 4 pythagorean triples. The sheet also has a link to some virtual flashcards I created to help you practice.

Take care,
Coach Ben

2022 AMC 8 1-11.pdf

2022 AMC 8 1-11 solutions.pdf

M1 25-26 solutions.pdf

Prime numbers and pythagorean triples.docx

M1 25-26 questions .pdf

Pizza.

Wednesday is our first Math Olympiad (MOEMS). This is an official competition. We will have 1 each month through March. Your score will be the sum of all 5 Math Olympiad competitions.

Get to practice and get set up as soon as possible. I want to save time at the end to go over the problems. The sooner we can start, the more time you will have.

There are 5 problems. Calculators are not allowed.

If there’s a problem you don’t understand, skip it and come back to it later.

Take care,

Coach Ben

Parents,

Now that the school year is in full swing, I wanted to resend these documents and highlight some items specific to MathCounts.

The Chapter MathCounts competition at Wright State on February 7 is the only competition that limits the number of students we can bring. The Chapter MathCounts competition is our equivalent to the SWBL championships that Oakwood sports teams compete in.

There are 2 paths for OJH students to earn a spot to attend Chapter MathCounts.

· #1) The top 8 scorers on the school MathCounts competition will be selected to attend. The top 4 students will be the A team.

o The school competition will be January 14 (Sprint round) and 21 (Target Round), during normal practice. A student’s score is Sprint Round + 2x Target Round. If a student is going to miss math team on either of those days, please let me know in advance, so I can make other arrangements for them to take the competition.

· #2) The next 6 spots will go to the students with the most bonus points.

o To qualify via bonus points, a student must have:

§ at least 4 bonus points (but having 4 bonus points does not guarantee you will earn a spot).

§ completed the school Sprint Round competition (January 14) and/or the school Target Round competition (January 21)

o Bonus points are earned primarily by completing bonus work.

§ Bonus work is due at the beginning of the practice after it was handed out. There is a 1-week grace period if a student needs to turn it in the following week.

o There will be additional opportunities to earn bonus points, like the prime number and Pythagorean triple contest after Thanksgiving.

· If the above does not fill all 14 spots, the remaining spots will be selected based on coach discretion.

· Student coaches are welcome to attend Chapter MathCounts as a coach.

This year, we are also bringing Smith and Harman teams (6th graders). Those students do not count against our limit of 14 students because they are from other schools. If you know any 6th graders who would enjoy experiencing MathCounts, please have them send me an email.

We are extremely appreciative of the parents who have sponsored pizza so far this year. There are still plenty of weeks available, for anyone who would like to sign up. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F044BADA628A5FF2-57693834-ojhmath#/

If you missed any emails and want to read through previous messages, they are at: ojhmathteam.org

If you have any questions, you are always welcome to email, test, or call me.

Take care,

Coach Ben

(937) 475-1931

OJH Math Team Competition and Bonus Work ao Nov 2025.pdf

Info for OJH Math Team Parents ao Nov 2025.pdf

Team,

This past weekend we solved some problems with help from the assistant coaches. Then we solved similar problems without help from the assistant coaches.
If you found those problems interesting, I got them from: http://mathcounts.saab.org/mc.cgi
At that website, you can choose how many and what types of problems you want. After you submit your answers, it provides the solutions. Then you have the option to repeat the same problems or just the ones you missed with different numbers. So, you get to keep working on it until you figure it out.

The bonus work was the Math Olympiad from November 2023. It is attached.

Next Week:
On Wednesday, November 12, we will be taking the November 2026 Math Olympiad. This is our first official competition. It is not a practice. I will score the papers and submit your score.
Mr. Badenhop is going to join us.

The feedback from students at the end of last year was that they wanted time to go over the problems. To facilitate that, we will allocate 20 minutes to the competition, leaving about 30 minutes to go over the problems after we are done. If we are able to start earlier, we’ll have more time.

Take care,
Coach Ben

p.s. As a reminder, all these emails show up on OJHMathTeam.org

Practice test 2 solutions.docx

practice test 1 solutions.docx

MOEMS Nov 2023 problems and solutions.pdf

Team,

We will be having our usual practice and pizza om Wednesday. We are going to set up a fun competition between the tables.

I have attached the bonus work from last week.
Also, if you’ve made progress on the MathCounts trainer (aops.com/mc), show me a screenshot, so you can get your reward.

Take care,
Coach Ben

AOPS 2024 team solutions.pdf

bonus work aops 2024 team.pdf

Team,

I posted a walk-through of the solution to the Math Olympiad problem from last week. It is the one that asks you to determine the value of circles, squares, and triangles. The link is:
https://youtu.be/9KRWJcGLuxQ?si=AAfiIi3jx1JXMU4H

If that is helpful, I can take time to make more for specific problems. If it’s not helpful, I won’t.

There are several attachments:
– the math team strategies we talked about at the beginning of practice. I handed it out last week.
– the bonus work: a practice team mathcounts
– The triangle practice we did in practice. #6 is the one I did on the board
– a MathCounts triangle stretch
– the October 2025 mathcounts showcase
– the solutions to all of the above.

A paper copy of the bonus work is in the back of the packet I handed out at the beginning of practice.

Take care,
Coach Ben

bonus work aops 2024 team.pdf

AOPS 2024 team solutions.pdf

triangle stretch solutions.pdf

2025 October Showcase Problems + Solutions FOR WEBSITE.pdf

Triangle stretch.pdf

triangles practice.pdf

Math Team Strategies 2025.docx

triangles practice solutions.pdf

Team,

We will be meeting on Wednesday, same time, same place, same pizza.

This week: Triangles!

We didn’t really have time to go over question 4E from the practice MOEMS last week. It was the question with equations made from circles, triangles, and squares.

The link to the youtube is:
https://youtu.be/9KRWJcGLuxQThere’s a link to my notes in the video description.

Take care,
Coach Ben

Math Team,

I will place the order for the shirts on Monday. If you have not placed an order yet, please do so.

If you need to make any changes, please let me know this weekend.

Take care,
Coach Ben

On Thu, Oct 16, 2025 at 3:43 PM Ben Boehm <mathcoachben> wrote:

Team,

It’s time to order shirts!

The link to order shirts is:
https://forms.gle/gyxM1bjC8VeK23N99

Thank you to Emily (Adam’s mom) for coming up with the awesome design (attached).

We are getting jersey’s this year! (https://www.a4.com/n3181#color=383 or https://www.a4.com/nw3223#color=383).
A shirt with the design printed on the front is $17. You can add a name to the back for $6. You can also add an 8-inch number (1 or 2 digits) to the back for $2.

The expectation is that every team member will purchase a shirt to represent the team. If that causes a financial difficulty, please let Coach Ben or Coach Rob know.

If you’d like to order more than one shirt, please fill out multiple forms. Parents are welcome to order and wear a shirt.

Please order your shirt by Wednesday, October 22.

Take care,
Coach Ben

Team,

Today, we used MOEMS Feb 2023 to practice how to check our work. Congratulations to the team members that made a mistake and were able to correct it. I have attached the MOEMS competition and the solutions.

The link to the document that gave strategies for checking your work is:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xwynk2ct4xVuSjlWoq_BaVxFHD5zZtGooFOhiMSjxPA/edit?usp=sharing
That document also has additional strategies that we will go over in a future practice.

The bonus work is the AOPS 2024 Target round questions (attached). In competition, the target round is a series of 4 sub-rounds. You get 2 questions each sub-round and have 6 minutes to answer them. You can use a calculator.

As always, I encourage you to play around with the MathCounts Trainer to earn additional pieces of the key chain to put on your backpack. (8 students have earned them so far.) Just show me a screenshot of the trainer with your username and level to receive your prize.

You can find this and previous emails at OJHMathTeam.org

Take care,
Coach Ben

MOEMS Feb 2023 problems and solutions.pdf

AOPS 2024 Target.pdf

AOPS 2024 Target solutions.pdf

Team,

Pizza.

We will be going over some MOEMS problems and strategies for checking your work.

The bonus work was the miles/hour problems and the AOPS practice sprint questions 17-25.

When you make progress on the MathCounts Trainer, show me a screenshot to get a reward.
https://artofproblemsolving.com/mathcounts_trainer

If you have not ordered your shirt yet, please do so by tomorrow (Wednesday)..
The link to order shirts is:
https://forms.gle/gyxM1bjC8VeK23N99

The following students have already ordered shirts:
Chenya, Lochlan, Tiernan, Xutao, Yichen, Adrian, Agam, Danny, Erica, Evey, Max, Andrew Z., Sage, Zihan
If your name is not on that list, I don’t have a shirt order for you, yet.

 

Take care,
Coach Ben

Team,

It’s time to order shirts!

The link to order shirts is:
https://forms.gle/gyxM1bjC8VeK23N99

Thank you to Emily (Adam’s mom) for coming up with the awesome design (attached).

We are getting jersey’s this year! (https://www.a4.com/n3181#color=383 or https://www.a4.com/nw3223#color=383).
A shirt with the design printed on the front is $17. You can add a name to the back for $6. You can also add an 8-inch number (1 or 2 digits) to the back for $2.

The expectation is that every team member will purchase a shirt to represent the team. If that causes a financial difficulty, please let Coach Ben or Coach Rob know.

If you’d like to order more than one shirt, please fill out multiple forms. Parents are welcome to order and wear a shirt.

Please order your shirt by Wednesday, October 22.

Take care,
Coach Ben

Team,

Yesterday we went over some ways to avoid being tricked by speed/time/distance problems.
You have 2 opportunities for bonus work this week. You can do both of them, one of them, or none of them. If you do both, you’ll get 2 bonus points.

1) Complete the practice problems we were working on during practice. The notes (with my amazing handwriting), problems, and solutions are linked below
2) Complete questions 17-25 of the AOPS 2024 practice sprint round. I have included up to question 30. Some of you will find questions 26-30 fun, interesting, and challenging, and some of you may find them frustrating. Questions 26-30 are optional. You only need to do questions 17-25 to get credit. The problems and solutions are attached

Mph notes and questions:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NSF3LyEpHb4Y6460HqqDEc3l1BlKcgaIT5CM5GQOGWE/edit?usp=sharing

Mph solutions:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11RDn9t5C869xHtLPdcOYoxJyVxoFpifbaT6pZYj8L_Y/edit?usp=sharing

As a reminder: to get credit, you need to show your work and show me your bonus work at the beginning of practice.

As a reminder, this email and previous emails are available at:
ojhmathteam.org

Take care,
Coach Ben

AOPS 2024 -Sprint 17-30.pdf

AOPS 2024 -Sprint 17-30 solutions.pdf

Team,

The notes, problems, and solutions we went over during practice today are attached. The bonus work (AOPS 2024 Sprint 1-16) is attached. Please show me your bonus work at the beginning of practice.

As a reminder, this and previous emails are available at:
ojhmathteam.org

Take care,
Coach Ben

AOPS 2024 -Sprint 1-16.pdf

Units 8 Oct 2025 solutions.pdf

Units 8 Oct 2025 problems.pdf

Team,

Good work yesterday working together on the problems and helping your teammates out. You did an amazing job putting the room back together so quickly.
I have attached the worksheet and solutions we did during practice. The bonus work for this week is the attached factoring stretch.

I have also attached the formula and vocab sheet.

On expectations for practices: We have different kinds of practices depending on what we want to accomplish. Sometimes, the practice will be doing a competition, similar to what we did last week. Sometimes, it will be working on problems in groups, which I think you generally enjoy the most. Sometimes, there are concepts that one of the coaches needs to introduce and explain to the group (like yesterday with prime factoring and its uses). When we do that, we try to keep that explanation as short as possible, so we ask for your attention during that limited time.

Take care,
Coach Ben
ojhmathteam.org

2025 formulas and vocab.pdf

factoring stretch solutions.pdf

Factoring Stretch.pdf

Sep 30 2025 factor solutions .pdf

Sep 30 2025 factor problems.pdf

Team,
This week we will explore Prime Factorization and the tricks and shortcuts we can use when we know the prime factorization of a number. And pizza.

Last week’s practice test:
Congratulations to all of you for working so hard and being so focused on the practice test last week. Shout out to Adrian, Max K, and Peter for being the top 3 scores on the practice test. Andrew, Adam, Agam, and Mingsu tied for 4th place. Our top scorer, Adrian, scored a 21 and tied Assistant Coach Evan! Adrian has done the most work on the MathCounts Trainer and was one of the top bonus-work completers last year. It’s good to see hard work translate into results.
I will have the scored papers to hand out at practice this week. While we enjoy recognizing high scorers, this was just a beginning of the year practice. The goal is to use this as a baseline to improve from. One way to do that is to review the questions that challenged you and understand how you would do it differently next time.
As a team, our high miss questions were: #2, #9, #17. The test and solutions are attached for reference.

See you on Wednesday,
Coach Ben

2022 Chapter Competition Sprint Round.pdf

2022 Chapter sprint solutions.pdf

Team,

Great work today. I have attached the practice competition and solutions you took today (2022 Chapter Sprint). I have also attached the bonus work (Warmup 3).

Congratulations to Tiernan, Ben, Danny, Jonathon, and Josiah for completing all the bonus work so far this year. Keep it up!

Also, a huge shoutout to Adrian for getting to Level 32 in the MathCounts trainer over the summer! That’s awesome.

If you missed today, I encourage you to go over the practice test. As a reminder, there’s always a 1-week grace period on bonus work, so you can turn in this week’s bonus work next week.

We need to figure out how to improve the time it takes to reconfigure the Orchestra Room at the beginning and end of practice. If you have ideas, please let me know. Right now, it’s typically 20-30% of the students moving chairs around while the rest of the students watch. I believe we can do much better.

As always, previous emails (including bonus work) can be found at:ojhmathteam.org

Take care,
Coach Ben

2022 Chapter sprint solutions.pdf

Warmup 3 solutions.pdf

warmup 3 problems.pdf

2022 Chapter Competition Sprint Round.pdf

We will have pizza this week.

This week we are going to do an individual MathCounts Sprint Round practice competition. This will give you an opportunity to experience what the competitions are like and practice staying focused. I’ll use the aggregated results to help decide which topics we will work on in future meetings.

Shirt results:
You can look at the full results at
https://www.rcv123.org/results/P9p28gvP5M3WV6WG5j9wpRJm?_secure=76PMQ84Xp7xc
You chose these shirts: https://www.a4.com/nw3223#color=383 https://www.a4.com/n3181#color=383

For the design, you chose:
Front: Oakwood logo circled by “Oakwood Junior High Math Team 2025-2026”
Back: Individual name and number or Oakwood “O”

A few reminders:

Bonus work:
The bonus work this week is Workout 2. The Workout 2 problems and solutions are available at ojhmathteam.org.
To get credit for bonus work you need to attempt all the problems and show your work. Your name must be on the paper. You can work together on the bonus work, but each person must show their own work on their own paper. As a reminder, in addition to candy, the bonus work counts towards who gets to attend MathCounts at Wright State.

MathCounts Trainer
The MathCounts trainer is at: https://artofproblemsolving.com/mathcounts_trainer/
Each time you move up a level (including level 1), you’ll get an award you can put on a keychain and hang on your backpack (or any other place). Show me a screenshot or print out of the MathCounts trainer that includes your username and level to receive your prize.

You can reference this and previous emails at ojhmathteam.org

Take care,
Coach Ben

First: I apologize if you had to rush to class. I told Mr. Badenhop it was my fault, and he sent a note to all the OJH teachers excusing any math team tardies. I misjudged how long it would take to throw paper airplanes.

Second: For those of you that left before the room was put back together: that caused your teammates to have even less time before class because there was only about half the number of people to put the room back together. To those of you that stayed: thank you for being good teammates.

Problems and solutions from today:
Today we worked on Warmup 2 and Workout 1. Those problems and solutions are attached.

Bonus work:
The bonus work this week is Workout 2. The Workout 2 problems and solutions are attached.
To get credit for bonus work you need to attempt all the problems and show your work. Your name must be on the paper. You can work together on the bonus work, but each person must show their own work on their own paper. As a reminder, in addition to candy, the bonus work counts towards who gets to attend MathCounts at Wright State.

The second question on the bonus work should look familiar. It’s the question we did at the end of class with the paper airplanes.

MathCounts Trainer incentives
As discussed during practice, we will be trying a new incentive for the AOPS MathCounts trainer. The MathCounts trainer is at: https://artofproblemsolving.com/mathcounts_trainer/
If you show me a printout or screenshot of the MathCounts trainer starting at level 1, you will get a key chain and an award to go on it that you can attach to your backpack (or wherever you like). Each time you move up a level, you’ll get an additional award for your keychain. I have attached an example screenshot. The level is circled in the upper left and the username is circled in the upper right. The screenshot needs to include your username. Also Congratulations to Lucien for getting to Level 8 over the summer.

Next week:
Next week we will do a practice MathCounts sprint round. It will give you a good idea of what kinds of problems to expect during competition and what it feels like to participate in a competition. It will not be used for team selection. Coach Rob and I will use the results to decide how to best use practice time and what kinds of problems to focus on.

As a reminder, this and previous emails are at ojhmathteam.org, if you need to look for previous handouts, bonus work, or information.

I’m really excited about the students we have on the team this year and the student coaches. I’m looking forward to seeing how much you learn this year and how you do at competitions.

Take care,
Coach Ben

2025-2026 workout 1 problems.pdf

2025-2026 workout 2 problems.pdf

2025-2026 warm up 2 problems.pdf

2025-2026 warm up 2 solutions.pdf

2025-2026 workout 2 solutions.pdf

2025-2026 workout 1 solutions.pdf

Great job today. I have attached the Warm up 1 problems and solutions we worked on during practice. The bonus work for this week, MOEMS Jan 2023, is attached.

I have also attached a document that describes the details of competitions and bonus points.

Bonus work reminders:
– The 6 students with the most bonus points will be guaranteed an opportunity to attend MathCounts (as long as they participate in at least one of the school competitions during practice in January).
– To get the most out of the bonus work, students should attempt the problems without looking at the solutions. When they get stuck, they can refer to the solutions to understand how to solve the problem. After they complete the problems, they should compare their answers to the solutions to understand how to solve any problems they missed.
– The coaches do not grade or score bonus work because it is expected that the students have already compared their answers to the solutions
– Bonus work is due the week after it is provided, unless otherwise specified
– To receive credit for bonus work, students need to attempt all of the problems and show their work
– Students will receive a reward (usually candy) when they earn bonus points
– To get credit for bonus work, show your completed bonus work to Coach Ben at practice. The students will keep the completed bonus work to use as a reference.

These emails show up as blog posts on ojhmathteam.org

Take care,
Coach Ben

Warm up 1 solutions.pdf

warm up 1 problems.pdf

MOEMS Jan 2023 problems and solutions.pdf

Competition and Bonus point descriptions.pdf

Team,

We will have pizza this week. As soon as you get to the Orchestra Room, please start reconfiguring the room for practice.

We are going to do some MathCounts problems and go over some solutions.
We are also going to brainstorm some ideas for this year’s team shirt.

As a reminder:
The bonus work was to make flashcards out of the formula sheet. If you show me your bonus work at the beginning of practice, you’ll get candy and a bonus point. My hope is that you will use your cards to learn some of the formulas.

Take care,

Coach Ben

Parents,

I hope the new school year is going well for your kids. Coach Rob and I are excited to work with them on the math team this year.

I’ve attached 2 documents to this e-mail with details on the team. In the first one, I tried to outline what to expect this year. The second one provides information (including dates) for the different competitions we participate in and details on bonus work.

Here are the two initial action items:
– Tell me any allergies or dietary restrictions your kid has
– Sign up to sponsor pizza for a practice (voluntary)
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F044BADA628A5FF2-57693834-ojhmath

As a general rule, I cc parents on the emails I send to the kids. Those emails end up on OJHMathTeam.org

You are welcome to email or call Coach Rob or I anytime with questions.

Take care,
Coach Ben

Info for Math Team Parents 2025-2026.pdf

Competition and Bonus point descriptions.pdf

Team,

It was good to see everyone today. We watched a video and discussed having a growth mindset. If you want to watch it again, the video is at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl9TVbAal5s

We talked about the MathCounts trainer.

https://artofproblemsolving.com/mathcounts_trainer

I encourage you to create an account and try it out. Spending time using it every week will give you a lot of exposure to the kinds of problems you’ll see in competition.

We also took a look at the attached formula sheet, terms, and form of answers. I encourage you to look over them and bring any questions you have to practice. You are also always welcome to email me or Coach Rob.

This week is the first week with bonus work. Bonus work is optional. If you show me your completed bonus work at the next practice, you’ll get candy and a bonus point towards MathCounts attendance.

The bonus work this week is to make flashcards out of the formula sheet. I have attached sample pictures of some of my flash cards. If you bring completed cards to practice next week, you will get a bonus point. My hope is that you will use your cards to learn some of the formulas.

As a reminder, emails I send to the team are posted as a blog on OJHMathTeam.org.

Take care,

Coach Ben

OJH Math Team handout 3 Sep 2025.pdf

Formulas and terms.pdf

Math Team,

I feel like today was a good first day. We set some expectations, solved a problem, and gave away too much candy. We also successfully converted the room to math-team-mode, then back to orchestra-mode.

If you have any friends who weren’t there today and want to be a part of the Math Team, they are welcome to join anytime. Feel free to invite friends along (especially 7th graders).

I’ve attached the handout describing what to expect this year. The solutions to the pizza and woodchuck problems are also attached.

All the emails and attachments I send will be displayed on the blog at ojhmathteam.org. If you read the emails, you don’t have to check the website, but if you miss something, you’ll be able to find it there.

If you have any questions or comments, you can email me (mathcoachben) and/or Coach Rob (rossrd).

I hope to see everyone (and any friends you bring) next week.

– Coach Ben

OJH Math Team 2025 Activity Fair Solutions.docx

OJH Math team General Info 2026.docx

Please meet in the Orchestra Room at Lunch on Wednesday for our first practice.  Please bring a lunch with you.  We will not have pizza this week.  It will be a few weeks before we get the logistics of pizza operational.  

At the practice, we will select a winning answer from the people who returned a form at the activity fair.  You will have an opportunity to answer the following question for a 2nd chance to win candy:

If 3 woodchucks could chuck 600 pounds of wood in 5 days, how many pounds of wood could a woodchuck chuck in 1 day?

You will have a few minutes to work on the answer during practice and you are also welcome to work on it before practice, are your own.

We are going to try to supplement our email communication for the 2025-2026 school year. We will put notifications we send out over email here. So, if you miss an email, you can read the posts here to find the information you are looking for (bonus work, contest information, etc.)