The ATM was first introduced last year by the Paly math club in an effort to provide a friendly math contest welcomed students of all levels of math. When the competition made its debut, math teachers all over the school were supportive of it and most of the Analysis Honors and Algebra 2 Trig Honors teachers even offered to reward extra credit to any of their students who decided to participate in the competition.

In this math competition, participants are separated into different teams of two to three people depending on the math course they are currently taking. The final results are presented by giving a specially calculated score boost to the teams whose members are taking less advanced math courses.

This year, the Paly math club reported that over a 100 students, spread throughout 51 teams, participated in the competition. Many participants enjoyed both free pizza and extra credit after the contest was over. Additionally, the top three teams received gift cards. Each of the team members on those teams received gift cards worth $15, $25 and $40 for the third, second and first place teams respectively.

Sophomore Jeremy Xu, a member of the third place team, enjoyed the competition, but said he is still frustrated about losing to the second place team by a thin margin.

“I thought ATM was fun and the math club did a good job of organizing it,” Xu said. “But something that could’ve gone better was if my team didn’t lose to the second place team by 0.01 points. If trig teachers gave extra credit I believe that a lot more students would have signed up and it would have been even more fun.”