Faculty member Domenic DiDonato, center, stands amid E3 students who took part in the math competition last weekend. Seated is Lyndsey Brown, and others are, from left, Carolina Garcia, Amalissa Beaubrun, Emily Phrasikaysone and Johanna Rosales.

The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman

PROVIDENCE — On Sunday, five young women from E3 Academy became the first public high school students in the city to compete in a regional applied math contest that asks students to solve a real-world problem.

E3 was one of only three schools in Providence (the others were the Wheeler School and La Salle Academy) to participate in Moody’s Mega Math Challenge, which offers $65,000 in scholarships to the winning teams.

More than 285 teams, each consisting of three to five students, gathered in kitchens, libraries and classrooms from Wilmington, Del., to southern New Hampshire over the weekend to solve a math modeling problem. Students had 12 hours to research the problem, formulate assumptions, develop and test the model and summarize their findings in a paper that was then uploaded to the Challenge Web site. The goal of the Internet-based competition is to encourage high school students to pursue math-related studies and careers.

This year’s question asked students if replacing gasoline with ethanol should be an important element of United States energy independence. Students were asked to answer the following questions: How much ethanol is needed to replace 10 percent of the country’s annual consumption of gas? What effect will ethanol have on carbon dioxide emissions? Is corn-derived ethanol a cost-efficient way of producing fuel? Estimate the effect of this policy on grain prices and on developing nations over the next five years?

Emily Phrasikaysone, the E3 team leader, said she was disappointed that there wasn’t more math involved in this year’s challenge, adding that the problem seemed to call for a more historical analysis of the impact of ethanol on gasoline use.

“We each had our own ideas,” she said yesterday. “But we learned to work as a team. We divided the work up.”

“I’m proud of them for being pioneers,” said principal Brian Baldizar. “It’s wonderful to see students from different demographic backgrounds working together.”

Domenic DiDonato, a pre-calculus teacher at E3, said he invited the five young women to participate because they are not only talented, but “always give 100 percent.”

"E3 is a small school,” said Emily, a senior. “We don’t have a lot of opportunities to participate in after-school activities. This is a great opportunity to showcase our skills.”

Because it is small — only 400 students — and only four years old, E3 doesn’t grab the limelight like Classical High School, the city’s only examination school, and Hope High School, which has become a model for high school reform. E3 is modeled after Feinstein High School, where graduation is based on a demonstration of proficiency in specific knowledge and skills, rather than passing a required number of courses.

E3 is a site-based school, which means that the principal has the ability to select the faculty and the faculty, in theory, is able to choose their principal. Students participate in senior internships, which emphasize the connection between classroom instruction and the workplace.

At E3, students feel a strong attachment to their school, perhaps because the setting is so intimate. On Friday, the five math contestants said that they were excited to represent their school in a multistate competition, adding that if they do well, it will give their school a chance to shine.

“I want to show that I’m good in math,” said Carolina Garcia, who wants to study pre-med in college.

“Math is not only solving a math problem,” DiDonato said. “It’s about figuring out what it means. At school, we do projects that involve the real world.”

Moody’s Math Challenge poses math problems that ask students to demonstrate teamwork, analytical skills and writing skills. Last year’s problem asked students to decide how they would invest $30,000, assuming a bull market:

“You have been directed to purchase any combination of up to six stocks from among the 18 listed on the following page and sell them after one year. Develop a method to select your choice of stocks and justify this option.”

Students are allowed to use the library and the Internet to research the question. This year’s winners will be judged by a panel of mathematicians, who will eliminate all but the best submissions. The final judges will review the remaining papers and rank the winning teams. The top teams are required to make formal presentations and answer questions about their work. The top six contestants will receive scholarship awards ranging from $2,500 to $20,000. The winners won’t be announced until next month.

The challenge’s sponsor, Moody’s Foundation, is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting a variety of nonprofit education, health and human services programs. Established by Moody’s Corporation in 2001, the foundation’s primary area of giving is secondary and higher education. The contest organizer, the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, is an international organization of more than 11,000 members, including mathematicians, computer scientists and engineers.

lborg@projo.com