The excitement inside the University of Toledo's Nitschke Auditorium yesterday was like a basketball game being won with a clutch free throw.

Seventh-grader Ben Perlmutter reached for the buzzer to answer the big question: What percentage of x is equal to 40 percent of 50 percent of x?

Ben's correct answer of 20 percent made the difference against his Timberstone Junior High School teammate David Perez for the Countdown Round trophy during the 2007 Toledo Chapter MATHCOUNTS competition.

Ben, David, and their Timberstone team also won first place in the team competition. It will be one of three teams representing the Toledo chapter in the state MATHCOUNTS competition.

MATHCOUNTS, sponsored by the BP Toledo refinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, SSOE, Inc., and the University of Toledo's College of Engineering, is an annual math competition held nationally among middle school students. Some 20 local schools competed in this year's regional event.

Ben, who finished seventh in the individual competition, upheld a family tradition.

His brother Norman Perlmutter, now a senior math major at Grinnell College, won the MATHCOUNTS state title when he was in junior high school. And his sister, Leah, now a junior at Southview High School, participated in the MATHCOUNTS state competition as well.

Ben said he was excited about going to the state competition himself.

He ran off the stage to hug his parents and sister after winning the Countdown competition, which featured the top 16 individual finishers and one separately from the individual competition.

Nirbhay Jain, an eighth grader at Ottawa Hills Junior High School, won the individual category and will advance in the state contest for the second time.

He said participating in similar events, including MATHCOUNTS last year, helped him against this year's competition.

"I just practiced a lot," Nirbhay said. "I did practice problems and I studied different formulas so I could remember them. I'm really excited about the state competition."

Eric Cheng, a seventh grader from McCord Junior High, finished second in the individual competition.

"Last year I was 14th and now I'm second, so that's pretty good," Eric said.

Sylvania fared well: Its three junior high schools - Timberstone, McCord, and Arbor Hills - finished first through third, respectively, dominating the team category.

In addition to Ben and David, the Timberstone team members included Michelle Liang and Sarah Wong. Eric's McCord team members included Yifany Cao, Dominic Fabiilli, and Neal Naveen.

The Arbor Hills team consisted of Ian Gregory, Colin McCloskey, Nicholas Smith, and Doug Vandini.

Colin, the top performer from Arbor Hills, finished fourth in the Countdown contest.

Other individuals who advanced to the state MATHCOUNTS competition include Collin Yu, of Maumee Valley Country Day School; Christopher Dress, Michael Dennis, and Sean Wheelock, of Christ the King, and Joey Yanos, of Gesu.

Dan Stark, of GEM Industrial Inc., said the competition was stirring and he hopes it will build a lifelong enthusiasm for math.

"We had a lot of volunteers and the kids battling it out until the end here," Mr. Stark said. "You can see how excited they get, so it's definitely a fun competition. We're down about four schools, but it's still a good turnout."

Contact Clyde Hughes at:

chughes@theblade.com

or 419-724-6095.

First Published February 4, 2007, 11:24 a.m.