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Editor's note: Dan Baker was the top scoring student in the 1999 MATHCOUNTS State Competition as an 8th grader at Woodbury Junior High. The following article appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on March 24, 2002.
Math whiz chews up all school has to offer
Junior looking for more, might take class at U
By Doug Peters, Pioneer Press
The way Dan Baker sees it, either you really like math or you really don't. Mark him down in the "really likes math" category.
Baker, a 16-year-old junior at Woodbury High School, aced the state mathematics competition earlier this month, joining two other students as the tournament's only perfect scorers.
After tournament officials applied the tiebreaker, which considered overall records in five earlier competitions, Baker took third place. He was the only student at a Washington County school to place in the top 50.
The state meet, held in Eagan, pitted the 50 top finishers from five previous contests against each other in individual competition. It was the third time in as many chances that Baker had qualified. It also was his best finish yet. As a freshman, Baker came in sixth. The next year, he took eighth place.
All three finishes qualified him for the national meet in Iowa City. This year's meet will be held in June. His success is a product of hard work, a teacher says, and talent. And, perhaps, of an early start.
"I think it was actually my parents that really got me interested in math," he said. "I started learning it really early.
Prompted by his parents, both engineers, Baker was working math problems at home years before he would encounter them in school. In second grade, when classmates were mastering addition and subtraction, Baker was pondering long division.
Brian Bonfig, Woodbury High School's math league team adviser, heaps praise on Baker, a student in Bonfig's Advanced Placement calculus class."I've been teaching for 29 years, and he is the best student I've ever had," Bonfig said. "Without a doubt."
Bonfig said Baker has the "mathematical intuition" to come up with unique and unexpected ways to solve math problems."It's like having an extra instructor in class," Bonfig said.
This will be Baker's last semester as a math student at Woodbury High School — there are no more courses for him to take.Baker said he is considering taking a math course at the University of Minnesota next year, and his future plans include pursuing a degree in engineering
© 2001 pioneerpress and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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