Dawn Chen: IMO 2024 Report

65th IMO summed up: NZL bet AUS

Pre-IMO

Turns out England was a little further away (and colder) than anticipated. After two peaceful and uneventful 12-hour flights (except for accidentally spilling water on myself) and a couple of snappy bus rides, we arrived in the warm, welcoming rain of Bath, England. We had four mocks in total, two of which were sat with the beloved Dutch team. Much was gained from the mocks as we not only got to experience simulated exam conditions, but also had the opportunity to experience Ross and Kevin’s coordination jobs (as we have learned, it is definitely not easy). In the mocks, I started noticing a concerning pattern of making most of my progress in the last 30 minutes of the 4.5 hours and silently prayed this was merely a spontaneous occurrence (spoiler: it turned out not to be).

Additionally, we had an eventful day of excursions where we went to the Roman Baths, met up with the Dutch, and together completed a “light stroll” around the Bath skyline where I battled with some ants and ultimately prevailed.

Bonus fact: The Romans would throw lead tablets engraved with some pretty nasty curses at people who stole their things into the Baths.

IMO Day 1:

The exam started rather suddenly amidst slight confusion which escalated with the first glance at the exam that appeared to have numerous sequence problems.

P1 in algebra was solved rather quickly with what was luckily the right idea. With quite a bit of time to attempt P2, I started trying a range of different ideas but they didn’t seem to take me anywhere. Keeping exam advice from the wise in mind, I decided to take a step back so went for a tactful toilet break and returned to my desk with a refreshed mind. It wasn’t until less than 10 minutes remained on the clock that I thought I might have had an idea that worked, and hence started scribbling furiously on paper, a rather familiar feeling from my mocks. Unfortunately, before I could finish formulating my idea, time ran out. After the exam, I went back to my room and wrote up a solution for P 2 but, for better or worse, I later noticed that my solution contained an assumption that wasn’t actually easy to fix. Fortunately, Kevin and Ross were able to pull out two partials from my 30ish pages of scribble.

IMO Day 2:

P4, similar to P1, was solved quickly just by having the correct idea (very much aided by an accurate diagram). I moved on to P5 with my slight fear of combinatorics. I made sure to try my small cases and conjectured n=3 in my rough work! Unfortunately, however, I was quick to reject my conjecture due to a particular configuration with the diagonal. After trialling a bunch of what-seemed-at-the- time-workable ideas, I wrote up my solution with something in my subconscious whispering to me that it was definitely a fake solve. But, with blind confidence, I ignored it and spent the rest of the time on P6 (bad move). Ironically, I even double-checked my solutions.

By the 4.5-hour mark, I sighed and acknowledged the end of what is likely my last ever official Maths Olympiad exam. It took about 2 minutes after the exam to find out for certain my Problem 5 was a fake solve, and I became one of the numerous participants hurt by Turbo.

Post-IMO:

Post-IMO was a blur of lectures, excursions, card games, and an active avoidance of discussing the exam problems. Together, the NZL team, along with the Oman team, had an extremely eventful day in London. Our London guide was particularly good at his job as he whizzed ahead tirelessly with his little flag, and we eagerly matched his footsteps. If there had to be anything unsuccessful about this trip, it would be being unpleasantly nudged by a British person on the way to the tube which although was quite unkind, it definitely did not hinder my overall impression of the British as kind people.

The next day was equally eventful as we headed to Bristol with the Dutch team. We strolled around Bristol and visited some Banksy works, which was rather exciting. At lunch, someone discovered the scoreboard of all participant scores before the end of coordination, and that marked the end of my inner peace. After returning to the university campus, it was evident everyone had accessed this scoreboard from the cutoff conspiracy theories floating around. Eventually, cutoffs were announced, and we were all relieved from our anxious anticipation.

The closing ceremony was interesting, as was the introduction video to IMO 2025. The after-party had some delightful non-Lime Tree food, rides, and fireworks show. As per usual, sleep was largely deprived after the exams as we spent time playing a range of card games with the Dutch and strolling around purposelessly. As the IMO drew to an end, farewells became inevitable, so we made sure to say goodbye to Ross, the Dutch team, the Macau team, and other miscellaneous friends before heading off to London for the Jane Street event.

Jane Street Event

The Jane Street event summed up was very pleasurable. Aside from the evident improvements in food and accommodation relative to the IMO, which was already quite pleasant, we also met up with the South African and Canadian teams who we had previously met at the IMO. We visited the Jane Street office, played some trading games, enjoyed a boat tour, and had a game night in the office during which I became rather proficient at explaining the rules of ‘Fight the Landlord’. Another unexpected highlight was meeting Denitsa, a Jane Street employee we had met at last year’s IMO, and her recognizing me! Throughout the event, I could feel the great aspirations Jane Street had for us, and I dearly hope Jane Street will have a great return on their investment.

Peculiar and Interesting Occurences:

NZL 3 and 4 enjoying themselves pre-opening ceremony demonstrating how NZL is clearly the most sociable team ever.

During the open-mic/talent night (which I had zero intention of personally participating in) out of the blue our good friend Clementine asked whether I spoke French to which NCEA-level-1-french- qualified-me replied “un peu” and was hence dragged on stage to sing French opera with her (although it was really just her singing amazingly and me looking perplexed).

On our stroll in Bristol, NZL5 accidently (?) murdered a snail that had a remarkable resemblance to Turbo, however, in his defence there were a surprisingly large number of snails in England and I myself am probably guilty of a similar crime. Turns out we are the monsters Turbo encounters.

At the closing ceremony we accidently (!) held the flag the wrong way (100% my oversight but I don't think anyone noticed!)

A store in London we encountered that I felt a deep and personal connection to.

Group Photos

Q&A:

Q: How has attending this event demonstrated greater knowledge of available career paths in science and technology?

A: Being able to meet so many people from different fields of STEM was an enlightening process because you hear about their experiences and passion for their fields. In particular, it was really interesting to hear about the work being done to train AI to solve Maths Olympiad problems, which shed light on an intriguing crossover between mathematics and AI.

Q: How has attending this event enthused or inspired you to pursue science and technology careers?

A: This year, we received lectures from a collection of incredible mathematicians pursuing careers in different areas of science and technology, which really demonstrated the wide applicability of mathematics. The possibilities mathematics offers made me optimistic about the choices that are open to me in the future.

Q: Has attending this event changed how you feel about science or technology?

A: I was able to see the application of mathematics in other areas of science and technology more clearly than ever through the presentations we received.

Q: How has attending this event and participating with like-minded students been of benefit to you?

A: Meeting like-minded students from around the world who have had incredibly different experiences from me was a great privilege because you can learn a lot by just talking and listening to them.

Q: Now that you have had time to reflect on your experience, what have you learned about yourself?

A: In this experience I have learned to filter out a lot of the noise to focus on what I should do and can do. Stress and anxiety are inevitable, but I feel that over the year and within this IMO experience, I’ve learned to manage them better. Additionally, I am also working on learning to take a step back whenever I am tunnel visioned.

Q: What did you enjoy about your experience?

A: First, “I believe this entire report answers this question sufficiently,” but I will still offer a response. I think the best part of the experience, perhaps aside from the mathematics, is meeting new people. What has always been amazing to me is how incredible and recognized mathematicians from around the world gather at the IMO in support of high schoolers (the fact that a group of super smart mathematicians read my script and tried to make sense of it is exceptionally cool and a great privilege)

To conclude, I would like to thank Ross Atkins and Kevin Shen for fighting for our marks, even when they were hard to get, and Josie Smith for taking such great care of us. It was incredible to have you guys along the way. Thanks to my fellow teammates and our friends from the IMO for making this experience all the better! Last but not least, many thanks to my family and school St Cuthbert’s College for supporting me.