CANFIELD Math wiz enjoys solving problems

The Canfield grad broke school records in three math contests.
By ROB MEYER
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- Solve for x: log(3x + 10) - log(x+2) = log 2x.
Look difficult?
Maybe for the average person, but for John Sinsheimer, solving problems like this one is second nature.
As a senior at Canfield High School this year, Sinsheimer broke school records in three math contests.
He placed second out of 108 students in the Ohio Council Teachers of Mathematics contest, answering correctly 29 out of 40 questions in one hour. In the American Mathematics Contest test this spring, Sinsheimer placed 175th out of 6,786 Ohio participants.
The top 501 students in this contest advanced to the American Invitational Mathematics Exam, on which Sinsheimer scored an 8. The average score is a 1.8 on the test of 15 questions worth one point each.
But to Sinsheimer, these numbers are just that -- numbers. Though he is proud of breaking Canfield's records in each of the three math contests, Sinsheimer simply enjoys solving problems.
He became interested in math as early as kindergarten and first grade. But during third grade, his interest in the subject took off.
"In third grade, I began teaching myself pre-algebra," Sinsheimer said. "I had an old computer I worked on."
His first competitive math contest was the Math Counts program, when he was in eighth grade.
What ex-teacher said
John Hoopes, a retired math teacher at Canfield, recognized Sinsheimer's abilities from the start. Along with having Sinsheimer in various math classes, Hoopes also taught a general problem-solving class, in which Sinsheimer enrolled.
"He is a great student and he spends a lot of time on his own preparing for these contests," Hoopes said. "He has a passion for mathematics and he is one of the best students I've ever had."
Sinsheimer credits Hoopes with preparing him for the various contests.
"Mr. Hoopes has helped me the most," he said. "He gave me contests from past years to help me study. Occasionally, there was a problem I couldn't figure out. He helped me with those."
Sinsheimer will attend Ohio State University in the fall and will major in engineering.