Chris Pan: IMO 2024 Report

July 7 – 8^th

I meet up with Ross, Kevin, and four other members of the team at the airport. Jerry, the missing member, is not with us, since by some trickery he managed to sneak onto the New Zealand team despite living permanently in Texas. The flights are long and boring, and I mostly pass time by sleeping. There does appear to be a games section on the on-flight screen, but despite our collective eagerness to play classics such as “Dungeon Master”, the displayed games are unavailable. This doesn’t stop us from checking every half hour or so in case the maintenance crew decided to fix this very glaring issue (they never did).

Upon arriving at Gatwick Airport, we round off our quintet to a sextet by welcoming Jerry. After some food and card games, we get on a coach to start the journey to Bath, where I promptly fall asleep.

I awake to the splattering of rain against deserted nighttime streets, and I look around to see that we’ve already been greeted with a friendly serving of British weather. We quickly take a bus to the University of Bath, where we’re introduced to our accommodation for the week. The rooms are nice enough, and even come with their own bathroom, an amenity I later learn not all teams were fortunate enough to have.

July 9^th

We start off the day with a trip to the canteen where we’ll be getting our meals: the Lime Tree restaurant. On a quick aside about the food, I thought it was for the most part pretty good, even though I’ve heard many people claiming the opposite. However, I did manage to identify one major flaw with the food distribution system: desserts are limited to one per person based solely on a trust system. Not a good idea when you have crooks like Jay and Haotian running around.

After breakfast, we sit our first mock, where I get a score of 7/0/0. We then familiarise ourselves with the campus, finding a supermarket and the student union — a common area for students to have fun in. This is where we spend our evening, playing foosball, Coup, and pool.

July 10^th

As a reward for our one day of very hard work, we’re already going on an excursion to the Roman bathhouses, the historical site for which the city of Bath is named. The overall experience is quite immersive, and some of the history is very intriguing. I particularly like looking at all the curses the common folk would throw towards those who wronged them. Not all the details are so awesome though, so I resort to asking Dawn to summarise a lot of the audio recordings for me.

Upon exiting the Roman baths, the rest of the team go buy some artisanal fudge. Ever conscious of our health, Jerry and I decide to refrain from consuming what’s probably the yearly recommended intake of sugar, and take some nice selfies framed by flowers instead.

After returning having lunch, we set off again, this time to go on a walk with the Netherlands team, whom we’ll spend quite a bit of time with throughout our trip. The walk we take is labelled the “Bath skyline walk”. I spend the walk conversing with Ross, bantering with the Dutch, playing frisbee, and trying very hard to enjoy the liquorice the Dutch were handing out. I’m very excited to get a nice photo of the Bath skyline, and so I’m extremely disappointed when we end our walk on a random road on the side of the mountain, with no skyline to show for it.

We eventually find our way back to the university and end our day probably playing card games or something. The Dutch had actually invited us to watch a Netherlands vs England football game with them, but we rather coldly declined.

July 11 – 13^th

We have three consecutive days of mocks, in which I score 7/7/0, 7/1/0, and 7/6/0. So I manage to score exactly half the total marks across my mocks, which I’m quite happy with.

July 14^th: Arrival Day

The first thing on the to-do list today is moving into our new accommodation. I was feeling a bit sick and rather tired, but still decide to go with the rest of the team to the newly opened sports gym. Here, I join in on a session of table tennis and basketball. Really tired now, I go to check out the XTX Hub, a hangout area sponsored by XTX Markets. It’s filled with games, free food and drinks, and has a TV for watching movies or playing games. I decide to get an “Energy Boost” smoothie in hopes of reinvigorating myself, but it seems to only make me more tired. Disappointed by the blatant lie of that smoothie name, I head back to my room to take a nap.

Later in the evening, I meet up with Jerry, Kevin, and Josie, and we join forces with Johan, the Dutch deputy, to take on the quiz night event that was taking place. We do surprisingly well, only really stumbling on the music section, and we end up placing second out of 18 or so teams. The only team which placed ahead was the USA team, who were haughtily sitting in the very back right corner of the auditorium — a very suspicious position which could easily facilitate dishonest conduct. Further investigation into their almost perfect answer sheets should be conducted.

July 15^th: Opening Day

In the morning, I attend Daniel Tammett’s lecture on growing up with synaesthesia and autism. I come out of the talk much more knowledgeable, now knowing that 4 is a bubbly number, compared to the heavenly aura of 11, which again differs from the cold nature of 83. I deliberate on whether or not to ask if he can still recite 22,500 digits of pi, as he claimed he once could, but I decide that I don’t want to spend five more hours inside the theatre. We’re all also given a signed copy of Tammett’s new book, which is very cool, and might actually make me break my two-year streak of abstaining from reading.

The opening ceremony starts with a Ukrainian dance, a nice homage to the country which should have been the host of this IMO, but was tragically blocked by the major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War. All the countries go up on stage, and the ceremony concludes with a series of speeches. Of particular note are the encouraging words of Gregor Dolinar, the president of the IMO board, who attempts to reinforce the triumph of human ingenuity over artificial intelligence by telling us to prove we’re still smarter than AI. These words do not age well, as news has recently come out that AI was able to achieve a score of 28 on this year’s IMO (spoiler alert: that’s higher than everyone on the New Zealand team).

July 16^th: Contest Day 1

It’s exam day. I’m a little nervous. I spend a bit over an hour on problem 1 before having a good stare at my work and realising I have a solution with induction pretty much ready to go already. My write-up is long and a little sloppy, but I end up getting a 7 for it. I spend the next hour on problem 2 trying to prove something completely useless, before stepping back, reading the problem, and realising I had misunderstood what I was meant to be proving. Brief moment of panic. I end up not solving problem 2, and also probably making a little less progress than I should have. I don’t try problem 3 at all beyond reading its statement twice.

I step out of the exam room to regroup with the rest of the team. It turns out that only Jerry managed to solve problem 2, but at least everyone had solved problem 1. I vaguely recall Jerry going on last night about some “epiphany” he had on how to always solve problem 2, and I wonder if there was actually some merit to his ramblings. We discuss our progress and solutions over lunch, then destress a bit by joining the Dutch in some minigolf and tennis.

July 17^th: Contest Day 2

When I open the exam envelope, I’m met with a rather pleasant surprise: problem 4 is the geometry problem, and problem 5 is the combinatorics one. This is rather unexpected, as it means the exams are much more weighted in favour of combinatorics compared to geometry. However, I’m not complaining, as this is probably the only chance I’ll have of solving 2 problems today. I go through problem 4 relatively fast, writing up a solution in around 1 hour. I then move onto problem 5, which I also complete suspiciously fast, finishing in around 90 minutes. This leaves me with a couple hours for problem 6, in which time I make little to no progress, which is a little disappointing. After the exam ends, I hear a few people talking behind me, and they’re already speculating on medal cutoffs. They all agree that problem 5 was rather easy for its position, and that therefore bronze cutoff might be around 3 problems, which makes me quite concerned. They then reevaluate their prediction and say it’s probably a bit under 3 problems, which makes me a little less concerned.

Just like yesterday, I regroup with the rest of the team to discuss our performances. I find that everyone has again solved the first problem, but this time it’s me, Jay, and Nico who have solved the second one. After talking to more people and reading some messages online, I gather that the suspicious simplicity of problem 5’s solution was also what made it deceptively tricky for well-trained students. Instead of considering such a simple idea, many participants went straight for ideas such as a binary search, leading them down the complete wrong path. This meant that New Zealand’s three solves on this problem was actually remarkably good, and in terms of points on problem 5, we beat Hong Kong, South Korea, and tied with China. Unsurprisingly, a lot of people were complaining about this problem’s appearance as problem 5 on the IMO, and it’s been almost universally recognised as a ‘troll’ problem.

July 18^th

We go on our first proper excursion today: a walking tour in London. Our tour guide is very friendly and knowledgeable. He gives us many important details and historical tidbits, the bulk of which I’m sure can be found in the report of someone more attentive than me. I think I talk to our tour guide more about his job than about London. Apparently it’s a very pleasant occupation for an older gentleman who enjoys walking. I’m getting quite old myself, turning 18 in a couple months, so I make a mental note to keep ‘tour guide’ as a possible profession. We’re on a somewhat tight schedule, as we’re trying to cram most of the famous landmarks in half a day, so we don’t spend too much time at each location.

July 19^th

Today is our second excursion, this time an impromptu one to Bristol, where we’re again accompanied by the Dutch team. If there’s one thing I must say about this trip, it’s that it was excruciatingly hot. For the entire walk, we were beset by belligerent beams of blistering blaze. Despite this heat, we walked for quite a while, visiting a scenic harbour, a grand suspension bridge, and a few authentic Banksies.

Some other events which occur involving the team, in chronological order:

• Jerry tries for five straight minutes to perfect a note in a song by repeatedly bleating it out every few seconds. I resist the urge to stop him so I can secretly record it instead.
• Haotian becomes a gastropod grinder as he steps on what we collectively agree is Turbo the snail. A minute of silence ensues.
• Jay brilliantly pulls out an umbrella to use as shade from the sun. This manoeuvre greatly confuses the Dutch, who look around to see where the rain is.
• Dawn tries to stifle her laugh at the new hat Jerry has bought, a wide-brimmed sun hat with a ribbon tied around. Perhaps it’s a little too bonita.
• I choose to not buy a slush puppy from an ice-cream van since it’s rather pricey, imagining that my water would suffice. I later come to greatly regret this decision when my water bottle runs dry.
• Nico spends the train ride back with Haotian figuring out theory and strategies for the hit mobile game ‘Colour Wars’. He subsequently claims that this game is “literally chess”.

Even back in Bath, however, the curse of the heat has not left us. Worse still, we’re forced to take the 40 minute walk up the hill back to the university, presumably due to a lack of buses. By the time we arrive, I’m so thirsty that I immediately go to the XTX Hub and chug a can of water, then a glass of orange juice, followed by a coconut water passionfruit tea, and finish with a glass of apple juice. Then, just for good measure, I get another coconut water passionfruit tea to drink over dinner. Needless to say, a lot of trips to the bathroom were made later that night.

During dinner, Ross and Kevin pull us aside to tell us some exciting news: if no major mark changes occur, this would be the first year that New Zealand beats Australia! We also all got full marks on problem 1 and 4, a very rare occurrence. The celebration is rather short-lived, however, as Jerry decides to count the marks of everyone on the partial leaderboard, and deduce that he and I seem to fall slightly short of silver with our 22 points each.

July 20^th

I wake up quite late and check my phone to see that medal cutoffs have been voted on to be 16/22/29. This is very good news for New Zealand, who have secured 3 silver medals and 3 bronze medals. It’s also very good news for me, who has just scraped by on the silver cutoff. It’s a little less good news for Nico, who has missed a silver medal by one mark.

The afternoon is spent on a tour of Bath, where we learn about fake windows, symbolic architecture, and the questionable fashion choice of the olden-day upper class.

After a Terence Tao lecture that I miss the first half of, we play Mao until a little past midnight. Then, Tobias from the Netherlands invites me, Jerry, and Dawn to a ‘quick’ walk which ends up consuming over half the night. We meet up with someone from South Africa and socialise a bit with people from Slovenia and North Macedonia. At some point, we take a brief dive into the bush where we see a path with what looks to be a faint light at the end. I suggest we explore this path, but my proposal is sadly shut down. Inspired by this spooky experience, I attempt to conjure up some scary stories. I almost successfully put one together, but mess up at the last moment when I reveal that the mystery red liquid was in fact cranberry juice.

July 21^st: Closing Day

Following an examination debrief with Kevin and Ross, I go with the rest of the team to the closing ceremony. Here, we each receive our medals, with Jerry and I crossing the stage together. After the medals are handed out, Jerry approaches the USA team and extends his arm out for a handshake. This invitation is met with 6 cold stares.

The end of the IMO is celebrated with a large outdoor party, filled with lots of free games, food, and rides. I capitalise on arriving early by getting as much food as I can before queues start piling up, and spend the rest of the time going on rides and talking with people from other countries. I also use this time to exchange some gifts, something I’ve been very bad at keeping up with thus far. The celebration concludes with a very sparkly fireworks display.

As we get ready to head back to our dorms, I overhear a member of the Chinese team lamenting their excess gifts they were unable to hand out. Playing it cool, I remark that we’d be happy to take it off their hands, and so we end up 6 gifts richer. Unfortunately, I’ve gotten a little too good at handing out souvenirs, so the only gift I have left to give in return is a New Zealand wrapped pencil.

July 22^nd

We say our goodbyes to the University of Bath as we travel to London for a post-IMO event sponsored by Jane Street. The hotel that we are staying at is almost overly lavish, and certainly a nice change from the university dorms. Although we’re given time to socialise, I somewhat regrettably spend most of this time resting in my room.

In the evening, we take the tube to the Science Museum, which I’m excited to explore. Unfortunately, we get stuffed into the basement instead, where we play video games for the next two hours. The free gourmet food and drinks are a nice addition, but feel a little odd juxtaposed against all the gaming consoles. Overall, it’s still a nice visit, at the very least forcing me to talk to some other participants.

July 23^rd

Our last day of scheduled events kicks off with a visit to the Jane Street offices. We have quite a nice breakfast there, a welcome change from the repetitive sausages and hash browns we had every morning in Bath. The first event that takes place is a chip trading game, a simplistic simulation of the real-world trading that Jane Street specialises in. I get scammed by Nico in the second round of this game, when I jokingly exchange all my blue chips for his singular purple chip of unknown value. Apparently, Nico doesn’t see this as a joke, and I’m left with a singular chip which I’m unable to trade up further. Things don’t look so good for my future quant career. The next event that takes place is an Estimathon: a team event where each team tries to accurately guess a range for a list of convoluted values. New Zealand places either last or second-to-last. Things are really not looking good for my future quant career now, as Jane Street’s probably put me on their “do-not-let-intern” list.

The day proceeds with an afternoon boat ride, a Matt Parker talk, and concludes with a very big dinner and activities night. I spend some time with Jay attempting to make a 3D hexaflexagon, but while he eventually completes a satisfactory product, my flexagon decides it doesn’t want its last two tabs to stick together. To make matters worse, the adhesive agent supplied is superglue, so I’m rewarded for my efforts with a 15 minute glue-peeling session in the bathroom.

Back at the hotel, we play Codenames with the German team until 2am. Jerry fumbles around when he picks ‘litter’ for the clue ‘green’, but redeems himself in the next round, where we end with a win.

July 24^th

I wake up early, at around 7:30 am, and have to physically drag myself out of such a luxurious bed. I force myself to get dressed and go downstairs, where I wave goodbye to and send off Jerry. Like on our arrival, Jerry is splitting up with us, and this marks the dissolution of the completed NZ team. Before long, the remaining members make our way to the airport as well, where we await the long journey home.

Questions

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

The numerous talks and lectures helped shed light on what you can do with maths, and the Jane Street event, as well as speeches from XTX Markets, also displayed a potential career option that heavily relies on technological methods.

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

There were a lot of talks on some contemporary mathematics, which looked very interesting and something I would be excited to learn about. I also had talks with both our team leader Ross about research in STEM, and our (very cool) team guide Jay about the maths he’s studying in university, both of which made me more confident in going down a pathway to do with science and technology.

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

I don’t think it’s necessarily changed the opinion I have of them, but it has definitely strengthened my interest and passion for the fields.

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

Coming to this IMO has given me contact with so many students who share this interest of maths, which gives me many more people to talk to. It’s also been really encouraging to see so many young students perform at such a high level, many much better than me, and it shows where hard work can take you.

Now that you have had time to reflect about your experience, what have you learnt about yourself?

In terms of mathematics, I’ve learnt that I should be more diligent and methodical when trying questions, making sure I fully understand what I’m trying to answer. Outside of mathematics, I’ve learnt that I should be less hung up on results. I can’t change the past, so worrying over what award I will or won’t receive only strictly worsens my mood. I’ve learnt that I should be more social, and talk to more people. I only have one opportunity to connect with all these people, and I should’ve used it more thoroughly. Finally, I’ve learnt that I should probably keep a better sleep schedule. I don’t like always feeling so tired.

What did you enjoy about your experience?

Without a doubt, all the people. It was great having fun with so many people, whether it be over a game, activity, walk, or just complaining about a question. In particular, the team that I was a part of this year was amazing and contributed so much to making this trip so enjoyable. And so, I would like to say a huge thank you to Ross, Kevin, Josie, Dawn, Jerry, Nico, Jay, and Haotian.