Seabury Hall’s Upper School Math Team took first place at the 38th annual Hawaii State Math Bowl held at Seabury Hall in Makawao late last month.

It was the third year in a row that the Seabury team took honors in the event, sponsored by the Hawaii Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Sixteen public and private schools from three islands competed in the April 30 event.

Seabury Hall’s team, coached by Sean Wilson, consisted of Jesse Doan, a junior; Shelby Ferrier, a sophomore; and David Shiraki, a freshman. The team scored 83 out of a possible 90 points.

Seabury bested other teams, including those from Oahu private school powerhouses Iolani and Punahou, to win the title.

The competition mostly is based on a test, with many rounds of problems that have different time limits. However, if there is a tie between two schools, a tiebreaker round is played, and the fastest team to answer a question is the winner.

The math used in the competition is based on high school math but goes beyond questions in a typical math class. The problems were written by Brigham Young University professors, so the problems were more complex and involved applying a lot of math concepts to new situations.

Many different topics are tested, including algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus.