In the Final Analysis, Math Whiz Counted on Brains

--Pressure mounted at the national championship of MATHCOUNTS, a contest to find the best and fastest mathematicians among the nation’s seventh- and eighth-graders. While 216 young people began Friday’s competition in Washington, only three finalists survived hours later, fielding questions in a tense game-show format. Vice President George Bush, the guest moderator, posed the climactic question: “It takes 20 square tiles, each with three-foot sides, to cover a certain floor. How many square tiles, each with nine-inch sides, will it take to cover the floor?” Two finalists hit their bell, both getting it wrong. Then, Russell Mann, 13, of Clarksville, Tenn., chimed in with “320,” the right answer, the judges said. Russell has scored a perfect 800 on the math SAT and for two years running has gotten the highest score in a Duke University-sponsored math talent search for precocious youth. He aspires to become a computer engineer. Speed in math, he said, comes from competing in contests. “You learn to be fast or you’re not going to do well,” he said. Asked if he had to fight off a “nerd” image, Russell responded: “I just try to act like a normal person.” Russell won a gold medal, a computer, an expense-paid trip to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and a week at U.S. Space Camp.

--Rock musician David Crosby, 45, a founding member of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, was married to Jan Dance, 35, a longtime girlfriend, in a private ceremony at the Hollywood Church of Religious Science on Sunset Boulevard. The wedding Saturday was attended by about 200 people, including musicians Stephen Stills, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Walsh, Grace Slick, Roger McGuinn and actor Howard Hessman. Graham Nash, 45, and his wife, Susan, took the opportunity to renew their vows.

--A 26-foot sloop, the Victura, sat and slowly deteriorated for eight years outside the John F. Kennedy Library in Dorchester, Mass. “The President’s father gave it to Jack (when he was 15) and it was always his favorite,” said Dave Powers, a friend of the Kennedy family and curator of the library. “He sailed in it right up until the time he became President. After that, of course, he used the presidential yacht.” Doug Kent, 36, of Weymouth, a marine surveyor and disc jockey, volunteered to restore the sloop for free. “I was too young to vote at the time, but I did admire him,” Kent said, his labor of love now complete.