Mathletes Compete for State MATHCOUNTS Titles in March Across the Pacific Coast

Middle School Students Gear up for Competition Across the Pacific Coast
ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(Business Wire)--
Middle school Mathletes® from Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington
will compete this month for the right to represent their state in the Raytheon
MATHCOUNTS National Competition - 2009 in Orlando this May.

Students qualified for their respective MATHCOUNTS State Competitions when they
or their school team won local competitions in February by correctly solving
problems such as:

If the current time is 7:03 a.m. on a 12-hour clock, what time will it be in 553
minutes?

Three pies and four cakes sell for $35 while four pies and five cakes sell for
$44.50. What is the cost to purchase one pie and one cake?

The top four Mathletes from each state will advance to the Raytheon MATHCOUNTS
National Competition - 2009 as a team or as individuals, and will compete for
national titles against other talented middle school mathematicians representing
the 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. Territories and schools from the
Department of Defense and State Department. The Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National
Competition - 2009 will be held at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin
Resort, in Orlando, FL, on Friday, May 8.

"It is simply amazing to watch these students display their incredible talents
and passion for math," said Kimberly Gavaletz, Chair of the MATHCOUNTS Board of
Directors. "The problem-solving skills that they have honed during their time
with MATHCOUNTS will expand the opportunities they can take advantage of for the
rest of their lives. Corporate America is in desperate need of a workforce that
has the strong math and analytical skills that these students will put to the
test during the MATHCOUNTS competitions. These students, through their
involvement in MATHCOUNTS and the efforts of their talented teachers, are on the
way to being highly sought after by employers in virtually every industry."

Additional information on MATHCOUNTS and the Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National
Competition - 2009 is available at www.mathcounts.org. For more information on
each MATHCOUNTS State Competition, and to find out when doors open to the public
for the Countdown Round, please contact a MATHCOUNTS State Coordinator listed
below. The MATHCOUNTS State Competitions will take place as follows:

March 7, 2009

Hawaii MATHCOUNTS State Competition
Location: Honolulu, HI
Contact: Rowena Blaisdell, (808)842-8227 or roblaisd@ksbe.edu

March 14, 2009

Oregon MATHCOUNTS State Competition
Location: Corvallis, OR
Contact: Michael Hardy, (503)314-5244 or mhardy@blackoakengineering.com

March 21, 2009

Alaska MATHCOUNTS State Competition
Location: Juneau, AK
Contact: Douglas Murray, (907)780-6151 or dougm@murraypc.com

California MATHCOUNTS State Competition
Location: South CA competition - Irvine, North CA competition - Stockton
Contact: Shannon Dorn, 512-468-8088 or s.dorn@cspe.com

Washington MATHCOUNTS State Competition
Location: Redmond, WA
Contact: Bill Kavanaugh, (360) 871-7073 or bill.kavanaugh@navy.mil

ABOUT MATHCOUNTS

MATHCOUNTS is the nation`s premier middle school math enrichment and competition
program. To secure America's global competitiveness, MATHCOUNTS inspires
excellence, confidence and curiosity in U.S. middle schools students through fun
and challenging math programs. Beyond the challenge of learning new skills, the
MATHCOUNTS Competition Program (school, local, state and national) provides
students with fun-filled opportunities to focus on mathematics. Each year, more
than 100,000 students from over 6,000 schools register to participate in the
MATHCOUNTS Competition Program and vie for prizes and scholarships, as well as
the opportunity to advance to the Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition.
Students of all abilities thoroughly enjoy the experience and develop
mathematical aptitude, self-confidence and teamwork skills.

At the state and local level, sponsors and volunteers from the National Society
of Professional Engineers support MATHCOUNTS. At the national level, Raytheon
Company, Northrop Grumman Foundation, National Society of Professional
Engineers, CNA Foundation, ConocoPhillips, 3M Foundation, Texas Instruments
Incorporated, Lockheed Martin, and General Motors Foundation generously sponsor
MATHCOUNTS. The National Society of Professional Engineers, National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics and CNA Foundation founded MATHCOUNTS in 1983.

ABOUT OUR TITLE SPONSOR

Raytheon Company is the title sponsor of the Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National
Competition 2009 and has made a commitment to serve in this capacity until 2011.

Raytheon`s support of MATHCOUNTS is a component of its MathMovesU program, an
initiative designed to engage U.S. middle school students in math and science
through interactive learning programs, contests, events, scholarships, tutoring
programs and more. Since its inception in 2005, MathMovesU has touched the lives
of more than 700,000 students, teachers and parents. For more information,
please visit MathMovesU.com.

Answers to Sample Problems: 4:16 pm,$9.50

Editor`s Note: Interested in more samples of the types of math problems these
students will be solving? The problems and answers from prior School, Chapter
and State Competitions are available at https://mathcounts.org/Page.aspx?pid=295
or contact us for a one page sample of representative math problems.

MATHCOUNTS
Chris Bright
703-299-9006 x104

Copyright Business Wire 2009