In a long career at Macalester College, Wayne Roberts has done all of the things that professors do. He has lectured, fielded late-night phone calls from students when they got stuck on their homework and even served as provost of the St. Paul college. He's also written an armful of books.

"But no parent sits down and says, 'I'm so glad you wrote that math book,' " he said. "Nothing has been as satisfying as the Math League."

Roberts, 74, was in the spotlight Monday at the Minnesota State High School Mathematics League's 25th annual state tournament -- his last before stepping down as director.

The league, which he founded in 1980, said thanks with a surprise fit for a math teacher: After a standing ovation in the auditorium of South St. Paul High School, students competing in this year's Math Bowl found themselves solving problems with numerical answers that paid tribute to Roberts and his work.

Six: the number of letters in his real first name, which is Arthur.

Two: the number of years, out of 29, that he has not written most of the math problems for league contests.

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Some of the 10 top high school math students worked on problems during this year’s competition held at South St. Paul High School.

3,908: the number of math problems that adds up to.

A four-person team, which includes Roberts, is taking over the task of drafting the algebra, geometry and trigonometry puzzles that students tackle for points in league competition. Tracy Bibelnieks, a math professor at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, is succeeding him as director.

"He's created quite a legacy," said league president Tom Young. "In the 29 years that we've had this league, over 50,000 kids have come through."

The league, which started with four teams, now has more than 3,000 students from 173 schools.

Roberts started the league to encourage Minnesota's best math students, who weren't doing as well as their peers in top-level competitions across the country, he said. He also wanted to reward students for doing well at an underappreciated skill. "It's murder to get recognition for kids who aren't playing hockey or shooting baskets," he said.

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TOURNEY RESULTS

Top three students in the tournament: 1. Martin Camacho, St. Paul Central. 2. Minna Chen, Wayzata. 3. Brian Tu, Wayzata.

Top three all-around students (entire season): 1. Rohit Agrawal, Wayzata. 2. Gaurav Singh, Wayzata. 3. Brian Tu, Wayzata.

Top three teams: Tier One schools: 1. Wayzata High School. 2. Eden Prairie High School. 3. Mounds View High School. Tier Two schools: 1. Cotter High School. 2. St. Paul Preparatory School. 3. Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School.