Students end first round in Internet competition

Jason Yeo/Exponent Photographer INTERNET OLYMPIAD: Students competed in the Internet Olympiad Sunday at Loeb Playhouse for a chance to win cash prizes.

By Julie Glaser
Staff Writer

There were high fives all around as one team learned it had answered a question correctly Sunday at the first round of the Internet Olympiad.

The Internet Olympiad is a competition during which Purdue undergraduates and area high school students have the opportunity to show off their knowledge of the Internet and related technologies for cash prizes.

There were three elimination rounds during Sunday's competition. Each round consisted of four sets of five questions, which narrowed the number of teams down to nine that will continue on to the second round of competition. Two of the nine places in round two were reserved for two of the three participating high school teams.

"We have three different fields of study in our group, so we have the knowledge to cover a wide range of questions," said Scott Brumm, a senior in the School of Technology, of his team. His team missed only three of the first 40 questions.

The questions asked during the competition ranged from the history of the Internet to a question concerning Purdue's Feb. 11 policy change of postoffice.purdue.edu.

"We thought the first round of questions was really easy," said Scott Yost, a senior in the School of Science, of his team. "We only missed one."

Each round of questions became progressively more difficult, asking for information such as international IP node names.

There was a controversy over the answer of one particular question during which a participating student stood up and gave a specific example as to why his answer was correct. He succeeded in proving his point, and two answers were accepted for that question.

"We just came to have a good time," said Aaron Huver, a sophomore in the School of Science. "On a Sunday afternoon we could either sleep or get out and put some use to our useless knowledge of the Internet."

The second round of competition will be March 22.

 

Purdue Exponent 2002