“What is 144 times 72?” I asked.
The interviewee started thinking. His eyes narrowed, concentrating. It looked like numbers floated over his head.
For most people, multiplying a 3-digit number with a 2-digit number would be impossible without paper or a calculator. However, the interviewee was Jingxi Liu, the co-president of the Reedy Mu Alpha Theta club, a student-led club that prepares for competitions in math.
In real competitions, the contestants would be able to use paper or calculators, but during the interview Liu had nothing but empty air and his passion for math.
As Liu concentrated, the moments passed by in silence. I felt nervous. The question was completely compulsive and in that silence, I felt as if I had ruined the whole interview. But suddenly, even before a minute had passed, I heard Liu’s voice.
“Is it 10,368?” he said.
I checked the answer nervously.
Liu was correct. 144*72 was 10,368. And the whole thing just took 40 seconds in his head.
I gave him a round of applause in amazement.
“I can’t believe that anyone can do that in their head,” I remarked.
But to Liu, it wasn’t a big surprise. The club members practiced methodically throughout the school year. Just in the past three weeks, the club had league qualification tests, and rounds are coming up in the fourth quarter.
“I think that [the club members’ performance in number sense] is ‘way’ above average, but that is because we are competing for it, right?” Liu said.
Last year, members of the club competed in mathematical categories of the league, and one of them won first place in the number sense category at a district-level. Unfortunately, the club members did not advance to the State-level last year, but this year they will give it another shot. The club has prepared its members in various ways: providing lectures, practice questions, and more.
“Especially at the beginning of the year, we had actually talked about specific and common things that are found at UIL and AMC [American Mathematic Competition],” the club secretary Joonsoo Yoon said. “Combinations of permutations and stuff like that. And we have example questions that we come around to ask everyone to solve and go around and try to help them.”
The club members also compete for American Mathematical Competitions, which requires more “thoughts” and “basic thinking” instead of “math content”, according to Liu. Liu says that last year, at least two members advanced to the National Level in the competition. Liu was one of the members to advance.
“I’m pretty happy about it because this is really a celebration of my work so far,” Liu said. “It is really helpful when you try to excel at math because personally, I’ll be majoring in math in university. So it will be a very good achievement that will help me to get into it.”
The club has the same name as Mu Alpha Theta National High School and Two-Year College Mathematics Honor Society. But as of March 2025, the club is not an official chapter of the honor society. According to Liu, the club plans to make itself an official chapter soon, and likely before the end of the school year.
“We’ll try to get it done by the end of the year,” Liu said. “I am senior, so I’m graduating, so I think at least I want to try to get it done before the graduation, then at the school year, and then for the club members, that will keep participating next year.”
Being an official chapter of the honor society can influence the club in many ways. According to the honor society website, members of the honor society may apply to scholarships, participate in its contests, apply for awards, and more. The honor society also provides up to $1,000 of grants to its active chapters.
The club welcomes every student in the school. Liu says the club “just wants to find everyone who is interested in math,not even just good at it, but at least interested”. In fact, the members may learn as they go. According to Yoon, the club has helped him beyond just mathematics.
“In all careers, people need critical thinking and fast deduction skills, and that’s all part of math, especially in events that I’m doing things like number sense where I need to think very quickly,” Yoon said. “I think skills like that are applicable to any field of whatever profession you try to pursue.”
From the beginning of the year, the club spent a lot of time trying to recruit new members. For instance, they were at the club fair, and made posters, according to Liu. Club posters are posted in almost every hallway to encourage students to join. According to Yoon, there is never a wrong time for anyone to join the club.
“Even if you don’t like math or you feel like you’re not good at it you should still try out and still try to improve,” Yoon said. “At the end of the day, the people who are good at these skills have improved that much, and if you join this club we will help you improve that much.”
