Integration Bee

On April 19th, 2018, the math department hosted its first integration bee, which has become an annual tradition. An integration bee is like a spelling bee, but students take turns computing integrals instead of spelling words. There are prizes for the top students and free refreshments for everyone. All undergraduates who are familiar with the material on integration methods from Calculus II are welcome to participate.

Rules

1. Only the writing implement will be allowed. No calculators, formula sheets, or extra paper are permitted. Scrap paper will be provided.
2. All integrals will be indefinite. Students do not have to write the arbitrary constant (+C) to get a correct solution. They must, however, undo all substitutions and thus present a solution in terms of the original variable.
3. An answer is acceptable as long as it is a solution for the original problem on an open interval (any open interval). So for example, ln(x) is an acceptable solution when you integrate 1/x because it is a solution on (0,1).
4. Initial elimination round: This occurs only if there are more than 18 participants to begin. Three integrals will be written on the board. All participants will, at their seats, have 5:00 minutes to compute the integrals. Each student must get at least two of the three integrals correct to advance (if more than 18 succeed then those who only got two right must do this process again until we’ve eliminated down to 18).
5. Integration Bee guidelines: The students, in a randomly-chosen order, will be asked up to the board in groups to compute the same integral (they will not be able to see each other’s work), and will have 4:00 minutes to compute this integral. A player will be eliminated when (s)he has gotten two integrals incorrect. We will cycle in order through the participants until we have only one left standing. The top three will receive prizes.