The Math Brain Bowl is an annual mathematics competition that is hosted in the spring by the Department of Mathematics of the NSU Halmos College of Arts and Sciences. This is a team competition, which is open to all Nova Southeastern University students. Questions for the competition are selected from the following categories:
- Mathematical history and general knowledge
- Algebra
- Calculus
- Logic
- Applied
Rules for Math Brain Bowl
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The competition involves teams.
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Each team is comprised of two to four members.
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The match consists of two rounds. A round of competition involves two competing teams; within a round there are 5 possible face-offs involving questions in each of the aforementioned categories.
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At the start of the match the order of questioning is determined by a coin toss. The team that wins the toss gets to go first and chooses any category. When a judge asks a question from a category the team attempts to answer it within 1 minute. If the question is answered correctly, the team receives 2 points. If not, the other team can attempt to answer the questions for 1 point. The turn then moves to the other team who chooses from the remaining categories and proceeds as described. Play continues in this way until all categories are exhausted.
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During each round a team can choose to use 1 lifeline at any time, that is, it can call on the audience (non-professors) to help answer the question.
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The team with the higher score after two rounds wins the match. In the event of a tie, the game moves into sudden death overtime.
Sudden death overtime rules:
A coin is flipped to decide which team takes control. The team that did not call the coin toss at the beginning of the match calls the toss for the tie-breaker.
The team in control has two options:
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They can choose to answer a question or…
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They can force the other team to answer.
Whichever team does not answer the question picks the category. If the answering team answers correctly, they win. Otherwise, the other team wins.