International Mathematical Olympiad
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Overview
The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a Mathematical Olympiad for pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. It is one of the most prestigious mathematical competitions in the world. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, except in 1980. More than 100 countries, representing over 90% of the world’s population. Each country send team of up to six students, plus one team leader, one deputy leader, and observers.
The content ranges from extremely difficult algebra and pre-calculus problems to problems on branches of mathematics not conventionally covered in secondary or high school and often not at university level either, such as projective and complex geometry, functional equations, combinatorics, and well-grounded number theory, of which extensive knowledge of theorems is required. Calculus, though allowed in solutions, is never required, as there is a principle that anyone with a basic understanding of mathematics should understand the problems, even if the solutions require a great deal more knowledge. Supporters of this principle claim that this allows more universality and creates an incentive to find elegant, deceptively simple-looking problems which nevertheless require a certain level of ingenuity, oftentimes a great deal of ingenuity, to net all points for a given IMO problem.
The selection process differs by country, but it often consists of a series of tests that admit fewer students with each progressing test. Awards are given to approximately the top-scoring 50% of the individual contestants. Teams are not officially recognized—all scores are given only to individual contestants, but team scoring is unofficially compared more than individual scores. Contestants must be under the age of 20 and must not be registered at any tertiary institution. Subject to these conditions, an individual may participate any number of times in the IMO.
History
The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. Since then it has been held every year except in 1980. That year, it was cancelled due to internal strife in Mongolia. It was initially founded for eastern European member countries of the Warsaw Pact, under the USSR bloc of influence, but later other countries participated as well. Because of this eastern origin, the IMOs were first hosted only in eastern European countries, and gradually spread to other nations.
Sources differ about the cities hosting some of the early IMOs. This may be partly because leaders and students are generally housed at different locations, and partly because after the competition the students were sometimes based in multiple cities for the rest of the IMO. The exact dates cited may also differ, because of leaders arriving before the students, and at more recent IMOs the IMO Advisory Board arriving before the leaders.
Several students, such as Lisa Sauermann, Reid W. Barton, Nicușor Dan and Ciprian Manolescu have performed exceptionally well in the IMO, winning multiple gold medals. Others, such as Terence Tao, Grigori Perelman, Ngô Bảo Châu and Maryam Mirzakhani have gone on to become notable mathematicians. Several former participants have won awards such as the Fields Medal. The list of the IMO contestants who end by winning Fields Medal are given below.
| NAME | IMO Participation | Fields Winning Year |
|---|---|---|
| Akshay Venkatesh | 1994 B | 2018 |
| Peter Scholze | 2007 G, 2006 G, 2005 G, 2004 S | 2018 |
| Maryam Mirzakhani | 1994 G, 1995 G | 2014 |
| Artur Ávila Cordeiro de Melo | 1995 G | 2014 |
| Stanislav Smirnov | 1986 G, 1987 G | 2010 |
| Ngô Bảo Châu | 1988 G, 1989 G | 2010 |
| Elon Lindenstrauss | 1988 B | 2010 |
| Terence Tao | 1986 B, 1987 S, 1988 G | 2008 |
| Grigori Perelman | 1982 G | 2008 |
| Laurent Lafforgue | 1985 S, 1984 S | 2002 |
| Timothy Gowers | 1981 G | 1998 |
| Richard Borcherds | 1977 S, 1978 G | 1998 |
| Pierre-Louis Lions | 1973 | 1994 |
| Vladimir Drinfeld | 1969 G | 1990 |
From The Team
Math-Bees is committed to bringing this amazing culture of IMO to students across the globe. By implementing the Math Circle culture and providing the greatest training techniques to students, Math-Bees aims to produce future mathematicians, who will reign over the world of mathematics. We are specifically focusing on nations that have little to no experience with participation at the IMO.