Competition Rules
Revised policies for ARML/IRML 2011 are denoted by *
- A team will consist of 15 members.
- *A student can not have turned 19 before December 31, 2010 for the June 3,4, 2011 competition ( the 2010-2011 academic year). If the student turns 19 between Jan.1 and the competition dates they would be eligible as long as they did not graduate high school (K-12) prior to April 1, 2011. If you think there are extenuating circumstances please submit them to Steven Adrian, ARML Executive Director, and the ARML Board will consider the problem. **This rule was updated on April 19, 2011.
- Teams for ARML must be drawn from a well-defined region. These geographic regions must be contiguous and non-intersecting. Regions with obvious gerrymandering (e.g. a state plus one student in another distant state) are not acceptable. If any student can potentially compete for more than one team, then the region definitions for all affected teams are in error must be rewritten to resolve such conflicts. The geographic regions can be as small as a single school (as in the case of the Phillips Academy and Phillips Exeter), a city, a county, a state, or as large as a collection of states (as in the case of Desert Southwest). Teams wishing to modify the region from which they can draw their team should contact the Executive Director of ARML for approval. The Executive Director is Steve Adrian and he can be reached at sladrian1@aol.com.
- Please see the document titled "Some Mathematical Ideas Used in the Competition" for a complete description of the concepts that are assumed for the ARML competition. Changes have been made in recent years.
- Calculators will not be allowed on any part of the ARML contest.
- There will be five Individual Rounds for a total of ten individual problems. The scoring structure of the contest will be as follows.
- Individual Rounds: The Individual Rounds consists of five rounds, each with two questions. One point is awarded for each question answered correctly for a total of 10 points possible per person and 150 points possible per team.
- Team Round: The Team Round consists of ten questions. Each correct answer is awarded five points for a total of fifty possible points per team.
- Power Round: The Power Round is worth fifty points.
- Relay Rounds: A correct answer submitted in three minutes will be awarded five points, a correct answer submitted in six minutes will be awarded three points. Thus, there are twenty five points possible per team for Relay 1 and twenty five points possible per team for Relay 2.
- No substitutions can be made once the Team Round has started. All substitutions must be reported to the Head of the Scoring Room or the Site Chairperson prior to the beginning of the Team Round.
- If a team arrives at the meet with fewer than 15 members, they can participate as a team. During the Relay Round the team would form as many complete three person teams as possible. If a team is short one member then the two students will receive only questions two and three. If they are short two members then the single member will receive only question three. Should these abbreviated teams have the correct answer they will get credit for it.
- Should a pre-registered student arrive late for any reason, he/she may join the team on which they are registered during the next official break in the meet. (Between the Team and Power rounds, before the beginning of any Individual round, before the beginning of either Relay round.)
- The use of “borrowed” students is prohibited. No student can participate on a team he/she is not registered with for housing.
- No teams can be added to the competition later than 15 days prior to the Friday the meet begins.
- Use of a dictionary in book form will be allowed for participants whose first language is not English. Electronic dictionaries or translators are not allowed.
- Use of a visual aid such as a magnifying glass is allowed for participants with a visual handicap. These must be inspected prior to the beginning of the Team round by the Team proctor. If any question arises as to the legitimacy of the device, the Site Chairperson will have the final word.
- During the Individual round there is to be absolutely no communication between students once the questions are handed out.
- The procedures for the relay round are very specific. Please click here to review.
- During the Relay round only the answer to the question in the student’s possession can be passed on to the next person on the team. The answer may be underlined to show orientation but that is the only mark that can be on the paper. The method of passing of answer(s) should, in no way, indicate anything besides the answer to the question. No comments or any other information may be communicated at any time during the Relay round. In the past, we have found that ARML participants have devised methods to communicate with members of their team. These practices are violations of the rules of the competition. Such practices include, but are not limited to: passing back multiple pieces of paper with the same answer at the same time in an effort to communicate that the participant is very certain of their computation, or a participant audibly crumpling and/or throwing a piece of paper on the floor to communicate to another participant that their submitted answer cannot be used in subsequent problems. Participants may underline answers so that they will be read correctly, to distinguish between a 6 and a 9, for example. In the spirit of fair and honest competition, and so that all individual teams are competing on the same playing field, we hope that all participants will abide by the rules as they were originally intended. Relay teams that are found to be communicating more than the answer to the problem will possibly face disqualification. Specific penalties will be decided by the ARML officials.
- Once seated, Relay groups will remain unchanged until the end of regular competition.
- Teams can ONLY submit exactly one solution to the Power Question. If additional solutions are submitted, then all solutions will be corrected and the team will be assessed the lowest score obtained.
- Cell phones are not allowed in the Team or Power Question rounds. If a cell phone is discovered in the room then the team will be disqualified from that round. Proctors will collect cell phones before the Team/Power Rounds and will return them at the end of the Power Round. Also, all cell phones must be in the off mode during all competition and award events.
- Students are expected to obey the above rules. They are also expected to respect the property of the University, ARML, and their respective teams. Failure to comply can lead to deletion of those students’ scores for the round or disqualification of those involved for the entire competition. If deemed serious enough by the Site Chairperson, Coach, and/or Head Judge, a student may be removed from the premises by a coach, parent, or guardian.