Mega Math Tournament

Updated: June 2, 2008

By Stephanie L. Smith

Score well on this quiz and you could make like Michael Viscardi, who at 16 landed a $100,000 scholarship from the Siemens Westinghouse Math, Science and Technology competition for solving the "Dirichlet Problem." It's puzzled mathemeticians since the 19th century, and he figured it out.

It describes the flow of heat, electricity or fluids. Michael's solution to the problem could help the future design of airplane wings, light-rail lines and even the heat-resistant tiles on the Space Shuttle.

Sources: "Dirichlet Problem," by Eric W. Weisstein, MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE).