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Lexington Middle Schooler Wins National Math Competition

BOSTON (AP) — A Lexington, Mass., middle school student has won a national math competition in Washington with the right answer to a question about integers.

Alec Sun won the 2013 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition on Friday by answering in less than 45 seconds what the greatest integer is that must be a factor of the sum of any four consecutive positive odd integers. He correctly answered eight.

An integer is a positive or negative number that does not include fractions or decimals.

The eighth-grader from Jonas Clarke Middle School competed among 224 middle school students.

In the team competition, Massachusetts won the National Team Championship for the second year in a row.

Sun won an $8,000 college scholarship and a trip to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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