Regional Math Field Day Comes to UC

Suppose you received a mega-sized chocolate bar for Valentine's Day. You love chocolate, so you want to make the bar last as long as possible. You decide to eat half of what is left of the bar each day. After how many days will you have less than 1/20 of the chocolate bar left?

On March 2, 2026, students from Boone, Clay, Kanawha, and Putnam counties will answer questions like this (and harder ones) as they compete at the University of Charleston in the Regional Math Field Day competition. This is the 10^th year that UC has hosted Regional Math Field Day.

There will be 112 students competing in this event. Each county sends three students per grade from 4th to 9th and a high school team of 10 students, representing grades 10th to 12th, to compete.

The 4th-9th grade students compete for individual awards, and 10th-12th grade students compete for both individual and team awards. Individual awards are given to the top three in each grade from 4th to 9th and the top 10 in the high school division. A team award goes to the county high school team with the highest score on team events. Individual winners advance to compete at the State Math Field Day competition.

The answer to the problem, by the way, is 5 .