New Zealand Maths Olympiad Committee online » News

2012 IMO Squad

Chris — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:45:30 +0000

New Zealand’s training squad for the 2012 International Mathematical Olympiad was announced last week, at the end of our week-long training camp at Grafton Hall, University of Auckland. The final team of six to travel to Mar del Plata, Argentina will be decided in April.

The squad members are:

James Allen, Kristin Senior School
Jerry Chen, Auckland International College
Natalia Chen, St Andrew’s College, and now St Cuthbert’s College
Byung-Cheol Cho, Auckland Grammar School
George Han, Westlake Boys’ High School
Peter Huxford, Newlands College
Hao Jeng, Hillcrest High School
Jaehwan Kim, King’s College
Vincent Qi, Onslow College
Ian Seong, Burnside High School, and now Macleans College
Arun Chockalingam Shanmuganathan, Auckland International College
Boyd Siripornpitak, Auckland International College.

The team will be accompanied by:

Dr Christopher Tuffley, Massey University (Leader)
Dr Peter Nelson, Victoria University of Wellington (Deputy Leader)
Stephen McConnachie, Middleton Grange School (Manager).

2012 British Mathematical Olympiad, Round one – New Zealand results

Chris — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:16:33 +0000

Twenty of the 24 students selected for the 2012 NZMOC January Camp took part in Round One of the British Mathematical Olympiad earlier this month. The following students scored 50 or more out of 60, and appear on the leading scores table at the BMOC site:

James Allen, Kristin School (60)
Arun Shanmuganathan, Auckland International College (59)
George Han, Westlake Boys’ High School (57).

Congratulations to all, and a big thanks to the BMOC for allowing us to take part.

IMO 2011: Final results

Chris — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 06:25:36 +0000

The medal cuts were set yesterday morning at bronze 16, silver 22, gold 28. These weren’t quite the numbers we had been hoping for…but they still give us a fantastic result of two silver, two bronze, and two honourable mentions. These are New Zealand’s seventh and eighth silver medals; all those without medals get honourable mention (a first^*); and we maintained the standing of 29th country which we acheived last year. Oh, and don’t forget that we’re only two points behind Australia, and have a higher top score!

The afternoon was spent in an excursion to the central city with our team guide Marlisa Hommel, wandering Amsterdam’s many cobbled streets and bridges, and taking a boat ride on its network of canals. The excursion finished in a dinner at the NEMO science centre. The closing ceremony is this afternoon, followed by a party, and then we all say farewell and begin our journeys home tomorrow. It has been a wonderful (and fantastically organised!) IMO.

Full results can be found on the official IMO site.

(*) Yes, I know this isn’t strictly correct, because of the empty set! But it’s still a first, with that one exception.

IMO 2011: co-ordination, day two

Chris — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:39:30 +0000

Following co-ordination today the final scores for the 2011 IMO team are: James Allen, 27; Malcolm Granville, 17; Benedict Morrissey, 13; Arun Shanmuganathan, 22; Tom Yan, 14; Robert Zhang, 21. Our total score is 114 – one point behind the Netherlands, and two behind Australia – and each student has at least one perfect seven. We are now extremely interested in all three medal boundaries, which will be set at the final jury meeting, at 9am tomorrow.

Our two major co-ordinations today went extremely smoothly – in fact our meeting for problem 2 was over before it was even scheduled to begin! We went in a couple of minutes early, and made our proposal for the six scores; the co-ordinators had exactly the same scores in mind, for the same reasons, and we were out the door before the scheduled meeting time of 2:30. The meeting for problem 1 was not quite as quick, but just as smooth, and we got an unexpected bonus. Both we and the co-ordinators proposed 3 for one script, but it turned out that we had different third points in mind, and so the 3 became a 4. However, we were not so lucky with problems 5 and 6, and missed out on two points we’d hoped to gain. One of these, on problem 5, was extremely disappointing.

The team are currently on a field trip to the Hague; we’ve sent them the results by text, but look forward to congratulating them in person when they get back. Wish us luck for the meeting tomorrow!

IMO 2011: co-ordination, day one

Chris — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 08:08:59 +0000

We had some disappointments in co-ordination yesterday, with a flawed solution we thought deserved at least five or six out of seven knocked back to four; and another otherwise perfect solution to problem four knocked back to six, for not explicitly explaining why weights 2^1, 2^2, …, 2^{n-1} formed an instance of the problem for n-1 (just divide them all by two!). There was little to be done about this, however, as similar rulings had already been applied to other teams; and in fact the point off for no-division-by-two wasn’t entirely unexpected. Aside from that things have gone reasonably well, although we do still have one script for problem five rescheduled for later today.

The day began smoothly, with our appointment for problem three (the hardest problem of day one) scheduled for 9am. We told the co-ordinators that we didn’t think there were any points to be found in our students’ work, to which they agreed, but invited us to discuss their work anyway. There was really only one script where anything substantial had been written, and we explained why its proof that f(x)<=0 for all x (worth two points in the mark scheme) was incorrect. They agreed that “it is not allowed to make this mistake”, and we shook hands on six zeros.

Next up was problem four, at 2pm. The co-ordinators quickly agreed to three of the sevens we asked for, but as we’d expected wanted to look more closely at the other three scripts. One of these used an unusual construction to prove the required recurrence, and we were working our way through this together when our half hour appointment ran out. We were given a new appointment at 8pm, with the points for two scripts yet to be agreed on.

Problem five was next, at 5. We had what we thought were two 7s, a 6 (credit goes to Ilya for identifying this), a 3 and two 2s. All of this was agreed to readily enough, except for one of the 7s, which was written hurriedly during the last fifteen minutes of the exam, and had to be gone through carefully. After a time out to discuss it amongst themselves…and calling over the problem captain…they agreed that it was very good work, but offered six points. The deduction was for a spurious equation which made them question the student’s thinking in reaching the desired conclusion. It was false, but unnecessary, and if you just covered it up, there would be no dispute! Extremely reluctant to accept a 6 we rescheduled in order to review the script further, and today at 10:30 we hope to convince them he did know what he was doing.

8pm brought both bad news and good. It turned out there were other students with the same error as the one in our first script, and the co-ordinators for the problem had met to discuss how to handle it. To our great disappointment the decision there meant we could get only four point. For the second script? “I have good news”, said a co-ordinator, holding up his laptop and showing us some lines of code. “I have implemented his construction, and it works; what’s more, we think that his proof is correct. So we agree with you that he gets seven points.”

So, with three problems co-ordinated so far we have either 63 or 64 points, with at least five perfect sevens, spread between four students. Wish us luck today!

IMO 2011: Moving in to co-ordination

Chris — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:50:09 +0000

Greetings from the Netherlands! With the second day of competition having taken place yesterday we are now all together again in Amsterdam, and I’m free to write about the events so far. The IMO is moving into its next phase: Ilya and I will be busy with co-ordination, while the team and Stephen go on excursions. Today they will go cycling, while we will co-ordinate problem 3 in the morning, and problems 4 and 5 in the afternoon.

After a long but uneventful journey we arrvied in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam just over a week ago. We were met by Dutch leader Johan Konter, who helped Stephen buy the team tickets to Texel (pronounced “tessle”), where they would spend four days in joint training with the Dutch team. Johan and I then saw the team+Stephen+Ilya off on the first leg of their journey – getting to Texel involved several trains, buses, and a ferry – before catching a bus ourselves to the secret jury location, near Eindhoven. Despite the many connections the team’s trip to Texel apparently went smoothly, with the only incident as they boarded the train at Schiphol: once they were all safely on board we looked back at the door at the far end of the carriage, to see a lone suitcase sitting on the platform. Luckily we were able to get it on board too, before the train departed.

The opening ceremony took place on Sunday, with a troupe of acrobats keeping things lively during the parade of teams. This year’s parade was done by continent, and the Australian leader and I were tickled to find that collectively we made up “Oceania”. A link to video of the opening ceremony can currently be found on the IMO 2011 site; Australia comes on at 92:30 and NZ at 93:00.

The contest took place over the next two days. This year’s IMO will surely be remembered for two things: the “windmill problem”, a beautiful combinatorics problem by Geoff Smith (UK), which made it onto the paper as question 2; and for being the first time in many years that there were two combinatorics problems instead of two geometry, with the only geometry being question 6 (the hardest). It seems the windmill problem may have been harder than the jury thought, as many countries are only claiming a few full solutions; and the “missing” easy geometry may well have upset the fortunes of many contestants – perhaps including those of some of our own.

Now it all comes down to co-ordination. Of course we have our hopes, but I’d prefer to report facts than speculation, so watch this space! Some photos will also follow.

IMO 2011: Pre-departure training, Grafton Hall

Chris — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 13:13:44 +0000

With just a week to go until the opening ceremony, the team gathered at Grafton Hall (University of Auckland) yesterday for a weekend of pre-departure training. Today was the first of three mock IMOs that the team will sit prior to the competition itself; tomorrow morning will be spent in a Math Battle, before we fly out to Amsterdam in the afternoon. The team will then spend four days in joint training with the Dutch team in Texel, before returning to Amsterdam for the IMO.

It will be possible to follow this year’s IMO online: the organisers have set up a facebook page, and will be posting daily news clips on YouTube. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies will also be broadcast live, on the facebook page and on the 2011 IMO site. These take place at 16:00-17:30 local time (GMT+2) on 17 July and 23 July – so 2:00-3:30am NZ time on 18 and 24 July. And of course we’ll post updates here as we’re able, to let you know how the NZ team’s getting on. Wish us luck!

Scenes from the weekend follow.

Tom Yan (foreground) and Arun Shanmuganathan tackle the first mock IMO.

Benedict Morrissey working on mock IMO1.

The team discuss the solution to Problem 1 on the mock IMO with deputy leader Ilya Chevyrev. Clockwise from left: Arun Shanmuganathan, Benedict Morrissey, James Allen, Robert Zhang, Ilya Chevyrev, Tom Yan, Malcolm Granville. Absent from photo: Stephen McConnachie (team manager) and Chris Tuffley (team leader).

Malcolm Granville, Benedict Morrissey and James Allen (team LEQ3) discuss a problem during the solving phase of the Math Battle.

Robert Zhang as opponent watches Benedict Morrissey present a solution during the Math Battle.

Malcolm Granville critiques Robert's solution to a problem during the Math Battle. With five of eight problems solved, the game was adjourned for lunch followed by departure to the airport. The score? Team LEQ3 26, team GEQ4 30, with LEQ3 next to challenge.

2011 Camp Selection Problems – due 10th August 2011

Chris — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 23:11:28 +0000

Our first step in choosing the team to represent New Zealand at the 2012 IMO in Argentina is to choose 24 students to attend a week long training camp in Auckland in January. These students will be chosen using the 2011 Camp Selection Problems (pdf, 111k). Students submitting solutions to the Camp Selection Problems must intend to be in school in 2012; must have been born on or after 20 July 1992; and must be NZ citizens or hold NZ Resident status.

Those selected for the camp will do 1-2 assignments prior to the camp, and we hope to have them sit Round 1 of the British Mathematical Olympiad in December. At the camp in January we will choose a squad of 10-12 students for further training, and to take part in several international competitions, including the Australian and Asia-Pacific Mathematical Olympiads. The final team of six will be chosen based on the results of these competitions, and perhaps some additional selection tests, if needed.

We look forward to receiving your solutions!

- Chris Tuffley
Leader, 2011 NZIMO team

PS: The 2011 team will be departing soon for the 2011 IMO, in Amsterdam. Watch this space for news!

A great year for NZ at the Asia-Pacific Mathematical Olympiad

Chris — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 21:42:49 +0000

The official APMO results have been released, following co-ordination in the organising country Japan, and our award tally this year is one gold, one silver, five bronze, and one honourable mention. This must surely be one of our best performances ever: among those years for which records are available (2003-2011) this is our first gold, and the first time we have received a full quota of awards (the APMO regulations cap the total number of gold, silver and bronze awards each country may receive at seven). Our award winners were:

Gold

Malcolm Granville (Auckland Grammar School)

Silver

Arun Chockalingam Shanmuganathan (Auckland International College)

Bronze

Robert Zhang (Auckland Grammar School)
Benedict Morrissey (Garin College)
James Allen (Kristin School)
Tom Yan (Auckland Grammar School)
Ha Young Shin (Christchurch Boys’ High School)

Honourable Mention

George Han (Westlake Boys’ High School).

Congratulations to all!

Full results and problem papers are available on the APMO site. Note that the results are in the form of an mhtml (mime html) file, which some browsers may not support directly (for example, Firefox users may need an add-on such as UnMHT).

2011 IMO team announcement

Chris — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 05:24:20 +0000

The team to represent New Zealand at the 2011 International Mathematical Olympiad in Amsterdam, the Netherlands was announced today. It will consist of

James Allen, Kristin School
Malcolm Granville, Auckland Grammar School
Benedict Morrissey, Garin College
Arun Shanmuganathan, Auckland International College
Tom Yan, Auckland Grammar School
Robert Zhang, Auckland Grammar School

with

Ha Young Shin, Christchurch Boys’ High School

as non-travelling reserve. Congratulations to all!