Break out the burlap and empty the ashtrays, we've gotten away with putting on another Wright Challenge. What a semester! There were over 500 of you this time around, writing creative sestinas, showing all your work, couching your problems in clever stories, burying your name and contact info in your answer, and otherwise making sure that I got the privilege of spending as much time correcting your work as possible. (Just kidding - I love my job. Ferreal.) It also was a semester where your Humble Web Designer got to visit Central Academy in Des Moines, where I was treated very nicely. Much nicer than I am treated at home, actually. But they told me that I had to leave at some point. I'll also be bringing the Wright Challenge on the road this month, with my mega-city tour of Illinois. (Some dates are still available - email me NOW if you want to get a boffo math talk and hilarious Q & A in May)

Over 500 entries, and three winners. It was a close one, gang. How close do you ask? How close? (I'm waiting. Go ahead and ask. Yell right at your computer screen. I will hear. Seriously. Nobody will think you are odd. Louder.) Close enough for there to be a TWO WAY TIE for first place! The first place winners will get equal prize money, and all will get something Nice from our friends at University Book & Supply. I'm actually in their coffee shop now, working on this page on my laptop. The real-estate agent with bright red hair is actually staring at me, probably because I am covered in cat-hair and enjoying the complementary chocolates on the table too intensely and copiously. Or she may just have Taste. There is another table with a very funky looking little girl (about 2 or 3 years old) with wild hair. Her mother just gave her an old pocket calendar to play with. She (the girl, not the mom) is just laughing her butt off with delight as she turns the pages of the calendar. Laugh it up now, girlie-girl, when you get to be my age the turning pages of the calendar becomes a lot less funny.

Oh, I'm sorry, did I digress? Okay, so to the winners:

The good citizens of Clinton, Iowa should be very proud of Luke Roling! In a world where most people his age are off playing "video games" and "throwing stones" at "policemen" he has eschewed such "kicks" and done constructive things, like composing sestinas and doing cheese-research. Luke will receive his $50 cash and prizes along with the love and admiration of the UNI math department. And trust me, Doctor E's heart is as big as his waistline, which means you are receiving quite a lot, Luke. Well done.

The United States of America has many national treasures. The Grand Canyon, the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, The House on the Rock and Wall Drug. We can now add to Michael Kirmes to that list! Not only does he share first place with Luke, but he did it while burdened with the handicap of having to learn how to spell "Dolieslager." (hee hee hee - it's his teacher's name. I'm a riot. Time for more coffee) Michael should also check his mailbox for cash and prizes, and we at the Wright Challenge all hope he will use them for Good; never for Evil.

When times are tough, when things look bleak, one can always go to bed comforted by the fact that we share a world with the Nashua-Plainfield Trigonometry Class. Always witty and cheerful in their emails, a mere fourth of one point seperated them from Michael and Luke. We will be sending their prize money and prizes to their honored teacher, Ms. Malven, and hope that she is kindly enough to share. Congratulations go to John Barnes, Megan Benning, Ashley Dietz, Suzanne Edson, Adam Franzen, Jennifer Irion, Kristina Mcburney, Tyson Scheidecker, Matt Schilling, Brian Sullivan and Nate Troupe.

As I said, this was a close one. Honorable mentions go out to the Loose Hawgs, Team Phoenix, Qi Gan, Melissa Meagher, Ashley Petersen, Evan Waddell, Mark Hasselhoff, Matt Coffey, Hunter Larrison and Javier Hernandez. You were darned close, gang, and your performances were outstanding.

As always, every problem was created entirely by Doctor E, with the following exceptions. Problem 1 was by Adrienne Stanley, Problem 2 was suggested by Melissa Potter, Problem 3 was based on an important problem in graph theory, Problem 4 was based on an old Math Olympiad problem, and Problem 5 was from Peter Winkler quoting Johan Wastlund.

Thanks thanks and more thanks go to some of the best teachers in the world: Becky Wolf, Cindy Fell, Connie Scott, Deb Hartgers, Mr. Gebhards, Joel Dolieslager, Kris Spihlmann, Lana Lyddon-Hatten, Mark Digmann, Mr. Bortnem, Mr. Hesman, Mr. Hoefer, Mr. Link, Mr. Menneke, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Miller, Mrs. Bowman, Mrs. Brickman, Mrs. Brown (who has a lovely daughter), Mrs. Dunker, Mrs. Goss, Mrs. Jennings, Cyndi Hinton, Ms. Patel, Ms. Shifrin, Ms. Stephens, the amazing Ms. Tanascu (your students love you), Paige Malven, Ricky Brooks, Shannon Burke, Steve Wilson, Tammy Kruse, Veronica Vergara, and all the other teachers who have encouraged their students to participate in the challenge. Special thanks go to Carol Miller, who not only got her students to participate in the Wright Challenge, but has forgiven Doctor E from taking a math test from her when he was merely Young Master E, and failing it because he wasn't paying attention the entire week she covered the Chain Rule. "Thanks for teaching me calculus, ma'am," says Doctor E.

Thanks to Nan Sash and the department for public relations for getting the word out. Nan sent letters to every single high-school in Illinois, telling them about the contest. Thanks to Nicole Williams, Michele Smith, Nadine Lilleskov, Laurel Palmer and the gang at University Book and Supply.

And, as usual, the last thanks goes to you. When this contest started, it consisted of 25 people sending in solutions, that your Humble Web Designer was able to grade in an hour or so. Now, because you and students like you had the Moxie to try something different, this is now a mega-contest, a beast out of control and rampaging, ready to spew out another healthy helping of fun next semester.

Yes, I said "next semester."
Because we are doing it again.
In Iowa and in Illinois.
More problems will be waiting for you.
This August.
When we unveil...

The Wright Challenge X:

the wright stuff
wright if you get work
do the wright thing
dudley do wright
parsley, sage, rosemary and math puzzles

The Puzzlephonic Spree

See you soon!

Click here to go to If This Is Wrong, I Don't Want to be Wright #5
Click here to go to the solution to If This Is Wrong, I Don't Want to be Wright #5
Click here to go to If This Is Wrong, I Don't Want to be Wright #4
Click here to go to the solution to If This Is Wrong, I Don't Want to be Wright #4
Click here to go to If This Is Wrong, I Don't Want to be Wright #3
Click here to go to the solution to If This Is Wrong, I Don't Want to be Wright #3
Click here to go to If This Is Wrong, I Don't Want to be Wright #2
Click here to go to the solution to If This Is Wrong, I Don't Want to be Wright #2
Click here to go to If This Is Wrong, I Don't Want to be Wright #1
Click here to go to the solution to If This Is Wrong, I Don't Want to be Wright #1

Click here to visit The Wright Challenge, Fall 1999
Click here to visit The Wright Challenge: Doctor E's Revenge, Spring 2000
Click here to visit The Wright Challenge: Doctor E Strikes Back, Fall 2000
Click here to visit The Wright Challenge: Doctor E Returns, Spring 2001
Click here to visit The Wright Challenge: Beyond the Puzzledome, Fall 2001
Click here to visit The Wright Challenge: Crouching Puzzle, Hidden Answer, Spring 2002
Click here to visit The Wright Challenge: Planet of the Puzzle Apes, Spring 2003
Click here to visit The Wright Challenge: Citizen E, Fall 2003

Web Page design: Doug Shaw