LOWELL | Poised for the question, Stephanie Scott, 11, listened intently to the math problem before taking a pencil in her hand and getting to work.

When rotation was announced, the fifth-grader returned to her Three Creeks Elementary School Math Bowl team to cheer on the squad. "Math's fun," she said, adding that she didn't find the problems difficult at all.

It all was part of Tuesday's 11th annual Indiana Academic Math Bowl competition at Oak Hill Elementary School. Nine teams in three classes made math magic vying for the perfect score of 28 and a claim to state honors.

Waiting for his chance to join the Forest Ridge Academy squad, 10-year-old Sami Shabeeb jumped up and down from the sidelines when he learned he had the correct answer to a Sudoku puzzler.

Around Sami, other students doggedly worked the problems, too, as they waited for their opportunity to represent their schools.

Meanwhile, a large crowd of parents cheered, many impressed with the degree of difficulty of the questions and their children's math knowledge.

"I've never been to something like this. It's wonderful for the children," said Tammy Polen, whose 11-year-old daughter, Emily, was on the South Newton team. "I think it's very challenging for an adult."

Joe Rosenblum said he works with his daughter Heather, a Forest Ridge Academy student, when she's doing math, so he wasn't surprised by the questions. He admitted, however, that the event reminded him of the new Jeff Foxworthy quiz show in which adults compete against fifth-graders.

Donna Bottinger's team from Kankakee Valley schools was in a class by itself with all sixth-graders. "Now, we'll see how we do in state," she said. Kankakee Valley and Forest Ridge each earned a score of 21 points.

Jane Fedler, the Tri-Creek School Corp. teacher who coordinated the event, said fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students participated

The nine teams competing Tuesday were St. Thomas More, Munster; Forest Ridge Academy, Schererville; St. John the Evangelist, St. John; Oak Hill Elementary, Lowell; Jane Ball Elementary, Cedar Lake; Three Creeks, Lowell; Kankakee Valley, DeMotte; South Newton, Newton County; and Lincoln Elementary, Cedar Lake.

BREAKOUT

Breaking it down

Here are two sample questions from Tuesday's 11th annual Indiana Academic Math Bowl:

1) Angel sketches a rhombus with an angle of 60 degrees. What is the average of the other angles?

2) The Leprechaun Ball cost $6.25 for adults and $4 for children. Fifty people attended and $227 was collected. How many children attended?

Answers:

1) 100 degrees

2) 38 children