59th Annual STS (1999–2000)
Finalists
Jayce Robert Getz

MONTANA
Jayce Robert Getz, 18, of Missoula, studies the mathematics of number theory specializing in the study of the partition function p(n) for Intel Science Talent Search. This function counts the number of ways that a positive integer can be written as a sum of positive integers. He builds on the work of Ramanujan, the celebrated Indian mathematician who, in 1919, observed that p(n) was divisible by the prime numbers 5, 7 and 11. Jayce shows that these observations were the best possible by showing that the numbers are not divisible by the higher powers of these primes (such as 25, 49 and 121). He is sole author of two papers-one about this project, accepted for publication in the Ramanujan Journal, and the other accepted by the International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences. First in his class of 283 at Big Sky High School, Jayce is president of the key club. His hobbies include performing and composing for piano, writing, snow and water skiing and wind surfing. He received the Horatio Alger Service Award for the state of Montana and is an Eagle Scout. The son of Jay and Deborah Getz, Jayce plans to earn a doctorate in physics at Harvard.