Students from the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences recently competed against thousands of teams from around the world in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM), an international competition that challenges students to solve complex real-world problems using mathematics.
Associate Professor Rebecca Chisolm said the competition provided a unique opportunity for students to work collaboratively.
“There aren’t many opportunities for mathematics students to do group work, so the MCM competition was a great way for them to get teamwork experience. They all brought something different to the group, and it was also a great opportunity to apply learned theories to a real-world problem.”
The team was made up of Bachelor of Science students Lenna Fletcher, Patrick Shawcross and Mark Lancaster. They chose the ‘Data with the Stars’ challenge, where they analysed data from the television show Dancing with the Stars to develop mathematical models that estimated fan voting patterns and examined how different voting systems affected competition outcomes.
Lenna said the competition was a steep but rewarding learning curve.
“This was a great opportunity for me to develop my information-gathering and problem-solving skills, as we investigated everything from random utility theory to previous studies on televised talent competitions.”
Working together, the team reconstructed data from 34 seasons of Dancing with the Stars and proposed a new scoring system.
“It was fascinating to see how technical signals from judges often diverged from public fan support, and how we could use maths to bridge that gap,” she said.
Patrick said the competition helped develop his leadership skills.
“Over the four days, each of us took the opportunity to step up and demonstrate leadership within the team. This required confidence and the maturity to move quickly from group discussions and contemplation into making decisions and acting. Even more importantly, it required a level of trust and belief in each other.”
Mark, whose primary role in the team was coding, said he developed key skills in scoping and collaboration.
“I focused my efforts on researching appropriate modelling techniques for our problem and then narrowing that down to a technical stack for our eventual solution. As part of this process, I learned a lot about the importance of scoping. Learning to pause and reflect was a vital lesson.”
“We met several times each day during the competition, and the collaborative energy of working through problems in the same room really helped me. I couldn’t have asked for better team-mates.”
