Calculus wizards rally together to do battle in math department’s annual Integration Bee

“Irrational, but well rounded,” boasted the first prize T-shirt at Pitt’s Integration Bee…. “Irrational, but well rounded,” boasted the first prize T-shirt at Pitt’s Integration Bee.

On the front, the pi symbol shone in all its glory.

Sophomore integration champion Jay Jacobs took home a $200 certificate to the University Book Store in addition to the neon green shirt.

“I’m probably going to wear it all week,” Jacobs said.

The Honors College and the math department sponsored the sixth annual Integration Bee Thursday. Cardboard bumblebee cutouts lined the front desk, a mathematical boxing ring where contestants took turns battling tough integrals.

A Samsung Digital Presenter, dubbed the “Prof-cam,” projected the competitor’s pen and paper onto a screen so audience members could appreciate each anxious scribble.

“We’ve got a good group here,” said Professor Jonathan Rubin, who helped select the integrals and organize the competition. “I’m happy the crowd is enthusiastic.”

From math buffs to clueless English majors who came to encourage their friends, spectators showed their support with brightly colored signs and eager applause.

On occasion, the crowd got a little too fired up.

At one point, a collective gasp from the audience prompted a contestant to scribble out a faulty minus sign and get the answer right.

Rubin gently reminded the fervent spectators to “refrain from any undue sound.”

In the vein of “Who Wants to be A Millionaire?” contestants could use a lifeline to enlist the help of an audience member of their choosing.

Most often, competitors honed in on professors who hadn’t selected the integrals for the contest. The popular professor Stuart Hastings came to the aid of stumped mathematicians no less than five times. Another highly ranked helper, Professor Angela Athanas, made frequent trips to the front of the room at competitors’ requests.

A spirit of camaraderie among the participants showed itself from the start, as wrong answers were met with murmurs of “almost” and “good try” from fellow contestants.

Participants established early in the competition that “Ben” was equal to a constant, and proceeded to add “Ben” to their evaluated integrals instead of the standard “C.”

“I’m on sort of a consistent high from the tribute that my friends have been paying me,” said sophomore Ben Mericli, the student celebrity to whom they were referring.

Master of Ceremonies Judy Day, a graduate student in the mathematics department, dressed for the occasion in black and yellow — bee colors.

“We had a lot of fans, a really good crowd and a good turnout,” Day said, “but there’s always room for more contestants.”