60th Annual STS (2000–2001)
Finalists
Caroline Minh-Phuong Nguyen

NEW YORK
Caroline Minh-Phuong Nguyen, 15, of Brooklyn, submitted an entry in the Intel Science Talent Search in which she gives a complete analysis of a two-round mathematics game called an Ehrenfeucht game. Two players are each given two sequences of zeros and ones; they never make mistakes. The first player, called "Spoiler," picks a digit in one of the sequences and the second player, called "Duplicator," tries to match this digit in the other sequence. Then Spoiler picks another digit and Duplicator must again match it, this time with a digit lying on the same side (right or left) as the one chosen by Spoiler. Caroline puts all sequences into 78 families so that Duplicator will win when the two original sequences lie exactly in the same family. Future research could explore the game's applications in mathematical logic. At Stuyvesant High School in New York, Caroline plays soccer and works on school publications. She also enjoys guitar, skiing and Tae Kwon Do and participates in Toastmasters International. She is the daughter of Van and Kim Nguyen and hopes to study at a college with a top math program. She plans to become a mathematical researcher.