Recently, Schechter Long Island senior Amit Nitzan, junior Ariel Nitzan and junior Mikey Benlevi won awards from the Long Island Math Fair.
The Long Island Math Fair is a mathematical research competition for students in grades 7-12. It is hosted by the Association of Mathematics Supervisors of Long Island. This organization allows students to research and explore different topics aside from what they learn in mathematics class.
Students must write a research paper, submit it, and present their findings to participate. This year, approximately 600 participants came from both private and public schools. This is the first year in ten years that Schechter students have won these prestigious awards.
Senior Amit Nitzan won a bronze medal.
“I won the award after writing a math research paper and presenting at Hofstra,” Nitzan said.
Amit Nitzan’s paper is called “The Secret Proof: Fermat’s Last Theorem.”
“Amit investigated the history and nature of a centuries-old mystery in mathematics,” said Mr. Garcia, the math department’s chair. “He traced the connections and theory behind Andrew Wiles’s famously complex proof.”
Junior Ariel Nitzan won the competition’s gold medal.
“I wrote a paper on the Collatz Conjecture and presented it to a group of people,” Ariel said. “I never won anything similar. I am really excited I won.”
“In [Ariel’s] paper ‘An Investigation of the Collatz Conjecture,’ Ariel dived into a famous problem that is easy to understand but seemingly impossible to prove,” Garcia said. “He wrote a computer program to run various simulations of the Collatz Conjecture and explore how making changes to the rules affects its outcomes.”
Junior Mikey Benlevi won a bronze medal for his paper “Pascal’s Pyramid.”
“Mikey researched the well-known Pascal’s Triangle and found a three-dimensional extension,” Garcia said.
The students and teachers were enthusiastic to be on the competition’s leaderboard again and Schechter hopes to continue their legacy next year.
