Intermediate Math League of Eastern Massachusetts
Encyclopedia
The Intermediate Math League of Eastern Massachusetts (or IMLEM) is a math league for middle schools across Eastern Massachusetts. A brief history of IMLEM is given in its By-Laws:
Each team consists of at most ten students, of which no more than seven can be in 8th grade. No student above 8th grade can compete, and no student can compete for more than three years. There is no handicap for sending a team of less than ten students.
Schools may send more than one team, however no student can compete on more than one team in a year. Also, a school may send alternates to gain the experience of a meet.
Meets are held at distinct locations for each of the ten geographic clusters. Schools within the clusters generally hold at most one of the meets. Each of the meets are generally held on the same day by all clusters; however for scheduling conflicts, schools may host meets on other days.
There are five individual categories, and they are: Mystery, Geometry, Number Theory, Arithmetic, and Algebra. Each individual round contains three questions, varying in content but focusing on topics published by the test writer. Questions in individual rounds are worth 2 points each. (Before this was the case, questions would be worth the question number, i.e., one point for question one, two points for question two and three points for question three.) Students are given 10 minutes to complete the round, along with a 1 minute warning.
The sixth category is a 15 minute, six question team round. The entire team collaborates to solve each of the questions. The first five questions are usually based on topics from the five individual rounds, and the sixth question involves the answers to the first five questions. Each question is worth 6 points, and a team may get a maximum of 36 team round points.
Students take three individual categories, and no more than six students on a team may take a single category. In a round, the maximum score for an individual is 6, and the maximum score for a team is 36. It follows that the maximum individual score is 18, and the maximum team score is 216.
18s are not uncommon, and each meet sees many individuals who get 18s. Coming into the 2004-05 school year, a score above 200 had been achieved only five times: twice by Diamond Middle School, twice by Clarke Middle School, and the long-standing record of 205 set by Marblehead in 1983. The first meet of 2004-05 saw two teams score 200: Clarke scored 200, and Diamond shattered the record by scoring 212. Diamond scored perfect 36s in each of the rounds except for round 3 (number theory), in which 2 students each got a question wrong.
The 2007-08 season saw Clarke Middle School shatter many records, recent and not alike. Firstly, Clarke scored 1006 for the year, which is an average of 201.2 per meet. This broke the previous record set by Diamond back in the 2004-05 year. Secondly, they outscored second place Diamond by 122 points, also breaking a Diamond record, this one set in 2005-06.
Each of the meets follows the following basic format. Each of the teams arrive usually by 3:15, and after snacks, the five individual rounds are held in succession. After that, a fifteen-minute team round is conducted. For all rounds, alternates and regulars are split. Finally, awards are distributed and teams should depart around 5:30.
† Year indicated is that of the end of that school year (i.e., 2007 represents the 2006-07 school year).
Schools
Each of the 64 teams, representing 58 schools, (numbers as of 2007-08) are assigned a geographic cluster and a scoring division. A school's scoring division is recommended by the league president based on an average of the school's scores for each of the previous three years. New schools are placed by the league president after a few meets.Each team consists of at most ten students, of which no more than seven can be in 8th grade. No student above 8th grade can compete, and no student can compete for more than three years. There is no handicap for sending a team of less than ten students.
Schools may send more than one team, however no student can compete on more than one team in a year. Also, a school may send alternates to gain the experience of a meet.
Meets
IMLEM has five meets every year, one in October, November, January, February, and March. For the first three meets, no calculators or external aids of any sort are allowed for any round. However, for the last two meets, calculators without programming or graphing capabilities, and without a QWERTY keyboard, are allowed for all rounds.Meets are held at distinct locations for each of the ten geographic clusters. Schools within the clusters generally hold at most one of the meets. Each of the meets are generally held on the same day by all clusters; however for scheduling conflicts, schools may host meets on other days.
There are five individual categories, and they are: Mystery, Geometry, Number Theory, Arithmetic, and Algebra. Each individual round contains three questions, varying in content but focusing on topics published by the test writer. Questions in individual rounds are worth 2 points each. (Before this was the case, questions would be worth the question number, i.e., one point for question one, two points for question two and three points for question three.) Students are given 10 minutes to complete the round, along with a 1 minute warning.
The sixth category is a 15 minute, six question team round. The entire team collaborates to solve each of the questions. The first five questions are usually based on topics from the five individual rounds, and the sixth question involves the answers to the first five questions. Each question is worth 6 points, and a team may get a maximum of 36 team round points.
Students take three individual categories, and no more than six students on a team may take a single category. In a round, the maximum score for an individual is 6, and the maximum score for a team is 36. It follows that the maximum individual score is 18, and the maximum team score is 216.
18s are not uncommon, and each meet sees many individuals who get 18s. Coming into the 2004-05 school year, a score above 200 had been achieved only five times: twice by Diamond Middle School, twice by Clarke Middle School, and the long-standing record of 205 set by Marblehead in 1983. The first meet of 2004-05 saw two teams score 200: Clarke scored 200, and Diamond shattered the record by scoring 212. Diamond scored perfect 36s in each of the rounds except for round 3 (number theory), in which 2 students each got a question wrong.
The 2007-08 season saw Clarke Middle School shatter many records, recent and not alike. Firstly, Clarke scored 1006 for the year, which is an average of 201.2 per meet. This broke the previous record set by Diamond back in the 2004-05 year. Secondly, they outscored second place Diamond by 122 points, also breaking a Diamond record, this one set in 2005-06.
Each of the meets follows the following basic format. Each of the teams arrive usually by 3:15, and after snacks, the five individual rounds are held in succession. After that, a fifteen-minute team round is conducted. For all rounds, alternates and regulars are split. Finally, awards are distributed and teams should depart around 5:30.
Topics
| IMLEM Topics (As of 2007-08) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meet | Cat 1 | Cat 2 | Cat 3 | Cat 4 | Cat 5 |
| Mystery | Geometry | Number Theory | Arithmetic | Algebra | |
| 1 | ? | Angle measures in plane figures including supplements and complements | Divisibility rules, factors, primes, composites | Order of operations; mean, median, mode; rounding; statistics | Simplifying and evaluating expressions; solving equations with 1 unknown including identities |
| 2 | ? | Area and perimeter of polygons | GCF, LCM, prime factorization | Fractions, terminating and repeating decimals, percents | Word problems with 1 unknown; working with formulas; reasoning in number sentences |
| 3 | ? | Properties of polygons; Pythagorean Theorem | Bases, scientific notation | Integral powers (positive, negative, and zero), roots up to the sixth | Absolute value; inequalities in one variable including interpreting line graphs |
| 4 | ? | Properties of circles | Modular arithmetic, series and sequences | Percent applications:
|
Word problems (linear, including direct proportions or systems) |
| 5 | ? | Solid geometry (volume and surface area) | Set theory, Venn diagrams | Combinatorics and Probability | Solving quadratics with rational solutions, including word problems |
Divisions
| IMLEM Divisions (As of 2007-08) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | School | Team | Cluster | Championships (INCOMPLETE)† |
| Euclid Euclid Euclid , fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "Father of Geometry". He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I... ean |
Belmont - Chenery Belmont Public Schools Belmont Public Schools is a school district that serves Belmont, Massachusetts, United States.-Schools:There are four public elementary schools in Belmont: the Burbank, Butler, Winn Brook, and Wellington schools. Wellington Elementary is currently being rebuilt and the students are housed at the... |
8 | ||
| Lexington - Clarke | 8 | 2+ (2007-08) | ||
| Lexington - Diamond | 8 | 9+ (1997-06) | ||
| Weston MS Weston Middle School Weston Middle School is a middle school in Weston, Massachusetts. It houses grades 6-8, and shares a campus and sports facilities with the Weston High School. Its mascot is the Weston Wild cat.-External links:*... |
Maroon | 3 | ||
| Winchester | 8 | |||
| Pythagorean Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos was an Ionian Greek philosopher, mathematician, and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. Most of the information about Pythagoras was written down centuries after he lived, so very little reliable information is known about him... |
Andover - West | 6 | ||
| Carlisle Middle School Carlisle, Massachusetts Carlisle is an affluent, rural town northwest of Boston located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the town is 4,852.-History:... |
8 | |||
| Newton - Brown | 7 | |||
| Newton - Day | 7 | |||
| Westborough - Gibbons 1 | 1 | 9 | ||
| Westford - Blanchard | 6 | |||
| Pascal Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen... |
Andover - Doherty | 6 | ||
| Concord | 8 | |||
| Reading - Parker | 4 | |||
| Shore Country Day | 2 | |||
| Topsfield - Masconomet | A | 1 | ||
| Wayland Wayland Middle School Wayland Middle School is an American public middle school located in Wayland, Massachusetts. The current principal is Betsy Gavron, the assistant principal is Karen Brennan and the administrative assistant is Edie Bracken.- History :... |
3 | |||
| Fibonacci Fibonacci Leonardo Pisano Bigollo also known as Leonardo of Pisa, Leonardo Pisano, Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo Fibonacci, or, most commonly, simply Fibonacci, was an Italian mathematician, considered by some "the most talented western mathematician of the Middle Ages."Fibonacci is best known to the modern... |
Brookline - Heath Heath School Heath School is part of Public Schools of Brookline and is located in Brookline, USA in the Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts area. It is an elementary and middle school that serves the Chestnut Hill neighborhoods and educates students in grades K-8.... |
7 | ||
| Meadowbrook - Weston | 3 | |||
| Newton - Bigelow | 7 | |||
| Northborough - Melican | 9 | |||
| Sudbury MS Sudbury Public Schools Sudbury Public Schools is an public elementary school district in Sudbury, Massachusetts in Middlesex County, serving students in grades PK-8.- Schools :*Ephraim Curtis Middle School*Josiah Haynes Elementary School*Israel Loring Elementary School... |
3 | |||
| Tewksbury - Wynn Tewksbury, Massachusetts Tewksbury is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 28,961 at the 2010 census.- History :Tewksbury was first settled in 1637 and was officially incorporated in 1734 from Billerica. Like Tewksbury Township, New Jersey, it is named after the town of Tewkesbury,... |
6 | |||
| Wellesley | 3 | |||
| Da Vinci | Amesbury Amesbury Middle School Amesbury Middle School has evolved much over the more than 85 years it has been in existence, serving students from the town of Amesbury, Massachusetts.- School snapshot :Amesbury Middle School220 Main StreetAmesbury, MA 01913Phone: 388-0515... |
1 | ||
| Andover - Wood Hill | 6 | |||
| Hamilton Wenham - Miles | 1 | |||
| Marblehead - Veterans | 5 | |||
| Natick - Wilson | 3 | |||
| Newton - Oak Hill | 7 | |||
| Stoneham Stoneham, Massachusetts Stoneham is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Its population was 21,437 at the 2010 census, down from 22,219 in 2000. The town is the birthplace of Olympic figure skating medalist Nancy Kerrigan and is the home of the Stone Zoo.- History :... |
4 | |||
| Gauss Carl Friedrich Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German mathematician and scientist who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, geophysics, electrostatics, astronomy and optics.Sometimes referred to as the Princeps mathematicorum... |
Beverly - Waring School Beverly, Massachusetts Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 39,343 on , which differs by no more than several hundred from the 39,862 obtained in the 2000 census. A resort, residential and manufacturing community on the North Shore, Beverly includes Beverly Farms and Prides... |
2 | ||
| Lynnfield Lynnfield, Massachusetts Lynnfield is a wealthy town in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 11,542.- History :... |
4 | |||
| Mansfield - Qualters | 1 | 10 | ||
| Reading - Coolidge Coolidge Middle School (Reading, Massachusetts) A.W Coolidge Middle School is a public middle school in Reading, Massachusetts, USA. It was named after Arthur W. Coolidge, a Massachusetts politician who served multiple positions within the state government and was fourth cousin to U.S. President John Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge Middle is managed... |
1 | 4 | ||
| W Newbury - Pentucket Reg Pentucket Regional School District Pentucket Regional School District is a three town regional school district. Elementary schools are located in each town, and the high school campus is located mostly in West Newbury, Massachusetts, USA and partially in Groveland, Massachusetts, USA. The schools teach the languages French, Spanish,... |
1 | |||
| Westborough - Gibbons | 2 | 9 | ||
| Weston MS Weston Middle School Weston Middle School is a middle school in Weston, Massachusetts. It houses grades 6-8, and shares a campus and sports facilities with the Weston High School. Its mascot is the Weston Wild cat.-External links:*... |
White | 3 | ||
| Dolciani Mary P. Dolciani Mary P. Dolciani was an American mathematician, known for her work with secondary-school mathematics teachers.Dolciani earned her bachelor of arts degree at Hunter College in New York City, and she completed her her doctor of philosophy at Cornell University in 1947... |
Austin Prep Austin Preparatory School Austin Preparatory School is a co-educational Catholic school located in Reading, Massachusetts. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1961... |
4 | ||
| Framingham - Walsh | 9 | |||
| Franklin - Horace Mann | 10 | |||
| Georgetown - Gardner | 1 | |||
| Mansfield - Qualters | 2 | 10 | ||
| Norfolk - King Philip MS King Philip Regional Middle School - Location :King Philip Regional Middle School is a middle school in Massachusetts drawing students in grades 7-8 from Norfolk, Plainville, and Wrentham. The school is located at 18 King Street, Norfolk.- Building Project :... |
10 | |||
| Swampscott Swampscott, Massachusetts Swampscott is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States located 15 miles up the coast from Boston in an area known as the North Shore. The population is 13,787... |
5 | |||
| Hypatia | Beverly - Briscoe Beverly, Massachusetts Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 39,343 on , which differs by no more than several hundred from the 39,862 obtained in the 2000 census. A resort, residential and manufacturing community on the North Shore, Beverly includes Beverly Farms and Prides... |
2 | ||
| Framingham - Fuller | 9 | |||
| Manchester Essex | 1 | 2 | ||
| Manchester Essex | 2 | 2 | ||
| Rockport Rockport, Massachusetts Rockport is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,952 at the 2010 census. Rockport is located approximately 25 miles northeast of Boston at the tip of the Cape Ann peninsula... |
2 | |||
| Topsfield - Masconomet | B | 1 | ||
| Hampstead | 1 | |||
| Gardner Martin Gardner Martin Gardner was an American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing micromagic, stage magic, literature , philosophy, scientific skepticism, and religion... |
Immaculate Conception: Revere | 5 | ||
| Marlborough | 9 | |||
| Melrose - Veterans Memorial Middle School | 5 | |||
| Peabody - Higgins Peabody, Massachusetts Peabody is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population is about 53,000. Peabody is located in Boston's North Shore suburban area.- History :... |
2 | |||
| Reading Coolidge Coolidge Middle School (Reading, Massachusetts) A.W Coolidge Middle School is a public middle school in Reading, Massachusetts, USA. It was named after Arthur W. Coolidge, a Massachusetts politician who served multiple positions within the state government and was fourth cousin to U.S. President John Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge Middle is managed... |
2 | 4 | ||
| St. Joseph's - Salem | 5 | |||
| Worcester Academy Worcester Academy Worcester Academy is an independent coeducational preparatory school spread over in Worcester, Massachusetts in the United States. The school is divided into a middle school, serving approximately 150 students in grades six to eight, and an upper school, serving approximately 500 students in... |
9 | |||
| undecided | Brookline - Park The Park School The Park School is an independent school in Brookline, Massachusetts, for boys and girls in pre-kindergarten through ninth grade. It was founded in 1888 as Miss Pierce’s School. Jerrold I. Katz has been the head of school since 1993.- Campus :... |
7 | ||
| Cambridge - Baldwin | 5 | |||
| Framingham - Cameron | 9 | |||
| Sharon | 10 | |||
| Triton Regional MS | 1 | |||
| Woburn-Kennedy | 4 | |||
† Year indicated is that of the end of that school year (i.e., 2007 represents the 2006-07 school year).