FAU’s Annual Integral Bee is hosted by the Society of Physics Students (SPS) each Fall semester. Adapted from world renowned universities such as MIT and Texas A&M University, FAU's Annual Integral Bee is an event in which participants compete to see who can solve indefinite integrals the fastest. Winners are awarded cash prizes.
Date: TBA
Event Time: TBA
Registration Time: TBA
Location: TBA
* At this time only FAU undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty can attend the event*
* Only undergraduates can participate*
1. Only a writing implement will be allowed. Scrap paper will be provided.
No calculators, formula sheets, or extra paper are permitted.
2. There will be three
(3)
rounds.
3. All integrals will be indefinite.
4. Students
do not
have to write the arbitrary constant (+C) to get a correct solution. They must, however, undo all substitutions and thus present a solution in terms of the
original
variable.
5. The integrals will increase in difficulty from round to round, and within each round as the round progresses.
6. An answer is acceptable as long as it is a solution for the original problem on an open interval (any open interval).
***YOUR ANSWER MUST BE CIRCLED
OR IT WILL BE COUNTED AS
INCORRECT***
Round 1:
Three
integrals will be written on the board/projector screen. All participants will, at their seats, have
5 minutes
to compute the integrals.
Each student must get at least
two of the three
integrals correct to advance to Round 2.
Round 1a:
If there are more than 16 participants who have advanced to Round 2
, one Round 2 integral will be written on the board and the survivors of the first cut will have
4
minutes
to compute it correctly at their seats. A participant will be eliminated if their solution is incorrect.
This will repeat until there are no more than 16 participants left.
Round 2:
The students, in a randomly-chosen order, will be asked in groups of 2-3 to solve the same integral at the board (they will not be able to see each other’s work), and will have a cap of
4 minutes
to compute this integral. This is
a two-strike round
; i.e. a player will be eliminated when they have lost
2 rounds.
If no participants solve the integral in time, no one gets marked
. We will cycle (in order) through the participants until the number of remaining participants has been reduced to
at most four
.
Round 3:
The remaining students, in a randomly-chosen order, will be asked in pairs to do the same integral at the board (they will not be able to see each other’s work), and will have
4 minutes
to compute this integral -
FIRST TO FINISH
WINS
THE ROUND
. This round is
single elimination
- a player will be eliminated after one loss. This will cycle until one competitor (the winner) is left standing. **For round 3, in the event both participants do not finish the integral within the allotted time, the round will be started over with a new integral.**
These represent the average level of difficulty of the questions for each round. All standard techniques from a Calculus II curriculum (u-substitution, integration by parts, trigonometric substitutions, partial fractions decomposition) are fair game.
Who can compete in the competition?
Only undergraduate students enrolled at FAU may compete. That includes high school students that are currently enrolled in courses at FAU.
Who will be judging the competition?
Our first choice will always be faculty. Post doctorates and graduate students may be asked to judge when faculty are not available.
Who can attend the event to watch?
As of Fall 2019, the event is only open to FAU undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty. In the future, we hope to open the event to the public.
What are the rules & regulations for the event?
Please see section above on “Rules & Regulations”
