'Fowl' Ending to Midd-Williams Mathematics Rivalry

Author: Caroline Stauffer

"Among 27 identical-looking coins, one is counterfeit weighing slightly less than the others. Using a double pan balance, identify the counterfeit coin in as few weighings as possible."

This was one of six problems tackled by students from Middlebury and Williams Colleges in the annual "Green Chicken Contest" last Saturday.

The answer is three, the same number of points by which Middlebury fell short to Williams in what Professor of Mathematics Pete Schumer called "one of the closest contests ever."

The event has taken place every fall since 1978, alternating between Middlebury and Williams College campuses. Originally, the competition was held the same weekend as the football game between the schools, increasing the rivalry. Now, the event simply takes place on a convenient Saturday.

"Though Williams is not technically the devil, we prefer that they don't win the Green Chicken," Tim Bahls '06 said. Bahls was quick to point out that Middlebury won the competition by a wide margin last year.

Professor of Computer Science Bob Martin is one of the contest's creators and is still actively involved in the competition.

Any Middlebury or Williams student is welcome to take the two-hour exam. While many competitors are math majors, some are also computer science, physics, economics or other majors. There is also a wide participation from first-years.

After the two-hour time limit, the contestants eat lunch together and the tests are scored out of a maximum 60 points. The four top scores from each team are added together to determine each team's score.

William's final score was 223. Middlebury's score of 220 included two scores of 57 by Siddharth Rajaram '06 and Bahls, a score of 56 by Siddartha Rao '04 and a score of 50 by Zilai Gan '07. A total of 15 Middlebury students and 19 Williams students took the exam, in what Schumer called, "one of our best turn-outs yet."

"Not only was this one of the closest contests ever, the total scores were also among the highest ever," Schumer said.

"And as the person who writes the tests when the contest is at Middlebury, I don't think the questions were any easier than in the past."

Math whizzes that missed the Chicken do not have long to wait for the next upcoming challenge. Students from all over North America take the six-hour William Lowell Putnam Competition simultaneously in December. The median score on this exam is often zero, according to Schumer.