The calculus team made history as they advanced to finals in the University of Texas Arlington Calculus Bowl March 3. No team has ever advanced before making this their first time at finals.

The Calculus Bowl is a competition between 24 different teams. In the first round, all teams must answer 25 problems in 60 seconds or less. The top 12 teams move on to finals.

“The spirit of the event really made it shine,” sophomore Cari Reinert said, “It’s really cool to get over a hundred of us rare calculus-lovers in the same building.”

The final round consisted of 40 questions instead of 25. The only placements after this round are first and second.

“Making it to finals was awesome,” Pecoy said, “You have proven to yourself that you know the topics even if you aren’t confident.”

According to Mathematics professor Dr. John J. Buoni, a lot of students tend to have trouble with calculus. One of the reasons the subject is so difficult arises from the lack of understanding in the subject itself.

“Learning calculus was harder than I expected,” Reinert said, “There’s a lot of memorization required along with outside homework.”

The calculus team practices during Power Hour but mainly relies on knowledge from class to prepare for competitions. For more information, go talk to Calculus Sponsor Robyn Bray in room 926

“Once you enjoy math, you can see the beauty in it,” Bray said.