$1,000 Scholarship Won for Essay on SCRABBLE and Math

Alexandra K., a sixth-grade SCRABBLE player from Chappaqua, New York, was awarded a $1,000 scholarship this spring by the Raytheon Company for her essay on “How does math put the action in your passion?” Alexandra’s passion is SCRABBLE (she is a rated player), and her award-winning essay is reprinted here. Raytheon also gave a matching $1,000 grant to Alexandra’s school as part of its MathMovesU scholarship program. For more information about MathMovesU and information about available scholarships please visit www.raytheon.com/stewardship/mmu/.

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How does MATH put the action in your passion?

I wonder if he could hear my heart beating loudly in my chest. I have on my rack seven tiles to make a bingo. I spy where I want to put my word on the Scrabble® board. I pray that my opponent doesn’t put his word on the Scrabble® board to block my spot. He puts down his word, counts up the score, records the score on a score sheet, and hits the timer. Whew! He did not take the place I had been eyeing. It is my turn now. I put down one tile at a time on the Scrabble® board, using the “A” already on the board. The word that I put down was “BIGAMIST.” I start to count up the score.

B + I + G + A + M + I + S + T

3 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 13

The first “I” and the “T” fell on a “double word score” premium square, this means the entire word is doubled twice [2(2) X 13 = 52]. Since in one turn I used up all the tiles on my rack, I scored a “bingo” – I earned an extra 50 points (52 + 50 = 102). I scored 102 points -- enough points on my turn to overtake my opponent. I eventually hold on to win! Scrabble® is my passion. My mother introduced me to Scrabble® when I was in 3rd grade. Scrabble® was a fun way for me to develop my vocabulary and also practice quick mental math. We would practice every night and I was allowed to use a dictionary to find new words.

In 4th grade my mom read an article in our local paper announcing a School Scrabble® tournament in a nearby town. School Scrabble® is played in teams of two. My mother signed up my brother and me. In the tournament we came in 3rd place. I was hooked! My brother however retired from Scrabble® competition.

I won my first School Scrabble® tournament a couple of months later. I took home 3 trophies – division winner, grade winner, and high game. The tournament director (Cornelia Guest) told my mom that I should consider competing at the National School Scrabble® Championships. I would have to wait until next school year because I was too young to compete -- it was for children in grades 5th through 8th. My interest was piqued!

In 5th grade I joined the National Scrabble® Association (NSA). NSA members can compete in NSA rated tournaments. The NSA tracks your progress and rates how well you perform at every tournament. If you play enough tournaments you become ranked against all the other competitive players. NSA rated tournaments are wonderful, in addition to winning a trophy, cash prizes are awarded. I have won two NSA youth tournaments so far!

To prepare for the National School Scrabble® Championships, I practiced daily and participated in many local tournaments. Scrabble® tournaments games are timed, just like chess. Each School Scrabble® team is allotted 22 minutes to finish a game. At the end of 22 minutes, if you have not finished your game, points will be deducted. Every minute you go overtime you get penalized 10 points.

Math plays an important role in Scrabble®. With the 7 randomly tiles drawn, at each turn players assemble words to score the maximum amount of points. Not all Scrabble® tiles have the same point value and the Scrabble® board also has premium squares. Vowels have the lowest point values because they are commonly found in words, while letters like q, x, and z have higher ones. “Double letter score” and “triple letter score” doubles or triples the points of the tile placed on the premium square. While forming a word and one or more of the letter tiles falls on a “double word score” or “triple word score” premium square, the word score is either doubled or tripled (or in the case of a word straddling more than one “double word score” premium square, the entire score can be quadrupled). The strategy is to combine the use of high point tiles in conjunction with the premium squares. Since every turn is timed, it is important to form words quickly and swiftly calculates which word play would obtain the optimal number of points. The highest total score wins. In order to ensure that both players agree on the total score at the end, each player is responsible for totaling their own score as well as their opponent’s score with sum confirmation after each turn. With so many things to keep track of, being quick at math comes in very handy!

The following 7 letters (A, C, E, G, I, N, S) can be placed on the Scrabble® board 2 ways. Two different words can be formed from those 7 tiles. While both words use up all 7 tiles from the rack (extra 50 points), the word “ENCASING” scores only 65 points, while “CEASING” scores 92 points (including 9 points by forming the word BEINGS as well). Therefore placement of your word tiles is crucial. This is an example of a mathematic optimizing problem. There are computer programs in Scrabble® that can calculate if it is mathematical possible for a player to win given the tiles they have drawn and making word plays on the Scrabble® board that can score the most points at every turn.

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In May of 2008, I competed in the National School Scrabble® Championships in Providence, RI. One hundred and four teams from all over the US competed. After the 2 day event, my team was ranked 47th. The experience was exhilarating! I can’t wait to compete in Providence again. Until then, I am content to participate at local NSA rated tournaments. Forty million people play Scrabble® in the US and Canada and only about 10,000 people compete in Scrabble® tournaments. Last month I finally played in enough NSA rated tournament to receive my National Scrabble® Association ranking. I attribute part of my success in playing Scrabble® with my ability to swiftly add and multiply numbers. Math definitely puts the action in my Scrabble® passion!

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This essay was submitted in January 2009 to Raytheon for the Math Moves U $1000 college scholarship.

Alexandra K. found out in April 2009 that she was one of the 150 winners who received the $1000 college scholarship. Her school also received a matching grant of $1000.