Calculator Applications (UIL)

Calculator Applications is one of several academic events sanctioned by the University Interscholastic League. It is also a competition held by the Texas Math and Science Coaches Association, using the same rules as the UIL.

Calculator Applications is designed to test students' abilities to use general calculator functions.

Calculator Applications replaced the Slide Rule contest previously held by UIL.

Eligibility

Students in Grade 6 through Grade 12 are eligible to enter this event. For competition purposes, separate divisions are held for Grades 6-8 and Grades 9-12, with separate subjects covered on each test as follows:
*The test for Grades 6-8 covers addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, roots, and powers, including straightforward calculation problems and simple geometric and stated problems similar to those found in state textbooks.
*The test for Grades 9-12 covers the subjects under Grades 6-8 plus exponentiation, logarithms, trigonometric functions, inverse trigonometric functions, iterative solutions for transcendental equations, differential and integral calculus, elementary statistics and matrix algebra.

For Grades 6-8 each school may send up to three students. In order for a school to participate in team competition, the school must send three students.

For Grades 9-12 each school may send up to four students; however, in districts with more than eight schools the district executive committee can limit participation to three students per school. In order for a school to participate in team competition, the school must send at least three students.

Rules and Scoring

The test consists of 80 questions at the elementary and junior high levels (the number is not specified for the high school level but usually consists of 60 questions), which must be completed in only 30 minutes. There is no intermediate time signal given; at the end of 30 minutes the students must immediately stop calculator processing, but they are allowed to write one final answer on the problem being worked at the stop signal.

The questions must be answered in order; a skipped question is scored as a wrong answer.

Students are allowed to bring up to two calculators for use in the contest, provided the following criteria are met for both calculators:
*The calculators must be commercially available models (models which were once available, but later discontinued, are still eligible).
*The calculators must be hand-held, operate silently, and be able to operate without requiring external power (rechargeable batteries are permitted but they must be charged prior to competition).
*All memory must be cleared prior to the contest (except for factory-installed memory; however, the machines must be calculators and not hand-held computers).

In order for a question to be scored as correct it must be answered to the third significant digit with allowable error in the third digit of plus or minus one, "except" for integer, dollar sign, and certain stated problems requiring least significant digits.
*For integer problems, in order for the question to be scored as correct the "exact" answer must be provided (there is no allowable error) "and" the answer must be in integer format (decimal points and scientific notation are not allowed and will be scored as incorrect).
*For dollar sign problems, in order for the question to be scored as correct the question must be answered to the nearest cent with allowable error of plus or minus one cent "and" decimal points and cents must be entered.
*For stated problems using inexact numbers, in order for the question to be scored as correct, use of the method of least significant digits is required, with allowable error of plus or minus one in the last significant digit.

Five points are awarded for each correct answer while four points are deducted for each wrong or skipped answer. However, questions not answered beyond the last attempted answer (defined as any problem where a mark or erasure exists in the answer blank for that problem) are not scored. In addition, "at the high school level only", 3 points are given on stated problems involving inexact numbers that are answered correctly but with the incorrect number of significant digits, "provided" at least two significant digits are indicated and the more precise answer rounds exactly to the lesser precise answer.

Determining the Winner

Elementary and Junior High

Scoring is posted for only the top six individual places and the top three teams.

There are no tiebreakers for either individual or team competition.

High School Level

The top three individuals and the top team (determined based on the scores of the top three individuals) will advance to the next round. In addition, within each region, the highest-scoring second place team from all district competitions advances as the "wild card" to regional competition (provided the team has four members), and within the state, the highest-scoring second place team from all regional competitions advances as the wild card to the state competition. Members of advancing teams who did not place individually remain eligible to compete for individual awards at higher levels.

For individual competition, the tiebreaker is points on stated or geometric problems. Scoring for these problems, for tiebreaker purposes, is the same as for overall "except" no points are deducted for incorrect answers. In the event a tie remains, all remaining individuals will advance.

For team competition, the score of the fourth-place individual is used as the tiebreaker. If a team has only three members it is not eligible to participate in the tiebreaker. If the fourth-place score still results in a tie, the individual tiebreaker rules will not apply, and all remaining tied teams will advance. At the state level ties for first place are not broken.

For district meet academic championship and district meet sweepstakes awards, points are awarded to the school as follows:
*Individual places: 1st--15, 2nd--12, 3rd--10, 4th--8, 5th--6, and 6th--4.
*Team places: 1st--10 and 2nd--5.
*The maximum number of points a school can earn in Calculator Applications is 37.

List of prior winners

Individual

NOTE: For privacy reasons, only the winning school is shown. Records on the UIL website go back only to 1983. [ [http://www.uil.utexas.edu/academics/archives/ UIL: Academics - Archives ] ]

Team

NOTE: UIL did not recognize a team championship in this event until the 1988-89 scholastic year. [ [http://www.uil.utexas.edu/academics/archives/ UIL: Academics - Archives ] ]

References

* [http://www.uil.utexas.edu/policy/constitution/academics/07_08sec924_928.pdf Official UIL Rules for Calculator Applications--High School] NOTE: This file contains rules for other competitions; Section 924 covers Calculator Applications.
* [http://www.uil.utexas.edu/policy/constitution/elem/07_08sec1414.pdf Official UIL Rules for Calculator Applications--Junior High School]