Contest History

David Rock and Doug Brumbaugh established The Problem of the Week Contest in 1996 at the University of Central Florida. The goal of the original site was to increase mathematical communication, problem solving, and enthusiasm for students across the globe.

As the Internet began to grow, so did this educational web site. This singular contest birthed 3 additional sites at the University of Central Florida: Elementary Brain Teaser, Middle School Madness, and the High School Challenge (no longer active). The University of Central Florida was home to the Elementary Brain Teaser and the High School Challenge until 2000. When David Rock moved to The University of Mississippi in 1998, he continued the project in 1998 by hosting The Problem of the Week Contest and Middle School Madness at Ole Miss. In 1999, he added two additional contests at Ole Miss, Algebra in Action and Geometry Gambit. In 2000, David assume responsibility of the Elementary Brain Teaser as well.

In 2004, four new contests were born on the United States White House website.  The White House Math Challenge currently hosts an Elementary School, Middle School, High School, and Open Challenge problem at the following address: www.whitehouse.gov/kids/math/.  The problems are provided by David Rock and Doug Brumbaugh and incorporate some of the best problems from the past nine years. 

With David Rock's transfer to the University of Massachusetts Darthmouth, the contests problems at The University of Mississippi became dormant.  The Problem of the Week Contest once again comes back into action at the Unversity of Massachusetts Darthmouth in 2005.  
 

 Last Updated On: 11/16/05