New Zealand Maths Olympiad Committee online

2010 Camp Selection Problems – due 27th August 2010

Chris — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 09:15:11 +0000

With one IMO concluded – and so successfully for New Zealand! – it’s time to start thinking about the next.

Our first step in choosing the team to represent New Zealand at the 2011 IMO in Amsterdam is to choose 24 students to attend a week long training camp in Christchurch in January. These students will be chosen using the 2010 Camp Selection Problems (pdf, 105kb). Students submitting solutions to the Camp Selection Problems must intend to be in school in 2011; must have been born on or after 20 July 1991; and must be NZ citizens or hold NZ Resident status.

Those selected for the camp will do 1-2 assignments as preparation for sitting 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 sit the Australian and Asia-Pacific Mathematical Olympiads and Round 2 of the BMO. The final team of six will be chosen based on the results of these competions, and perhaps some additional selection tests, if needed.

We look forward to receiving your solutions!

- Chris Tuffley
Leader, 2010 NZIMO team

Important update, 11th August: At last January’s camp we decided that only year 12 students and members of the squad would be required to do just the senior problems; students in year 11 or below, who have been to a January camp but not been in the squad, can do both the junior and senior problems. The instructions for the problems have been updated to reflect this.

Files (all pdf):

the problems only
the instructions and registration form only
Both in one.

IMO 2010: closing ceremony

Chris — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:24:03 +0000

On Monday Ilya and I finally saw the team and May again, at the Kazanat Equestrian Sports Complex, where we were treated to a display of some traditional Kazakh games. The closing ceremony was held yesterday, and we begin our journey home today; layovers in Almaty and then Dubai mean we arrive back in New Zealand on Saturday.

Pictures follow.

The team at last! Stephen, Malcolm, Robert arrive at Kazanat.

A rider tries to pick up one of several scarfs dropped by a lady on a horse.

Scott on stage at the award ceremony.

Madelon (NLD) receiving her medal.

Malcolm receiving his medal.

Harm Campmans (orange shirt) and Wim Berkelmans (right) receive the IMO flag on behalf of the Netherlands. The Netherlands will host the 2011 IMO.

The team with Ilya, after the closing ceremony.

With our friends the Dutch. They received five medals this year.

IMO 2010: final results

Chris — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:48:11 +0000

The medal cut offs were set this evening at bronze 15, silver 21, gold 27, giving us everything we could have hoped for: two silver medals, for Malcolm and Tom, and four bronze medals, for Stephen, Edward, Robert and Scott. We are ranked 29th out of 96 countries, giving us a relative ranking of 70%, our highest to date, and we will be bringing home six medals for the first time ever, as well as our fifth and sixth silvers. This has been a fantastic year for the New Zealand IMO team.

We’re unable to communicate directly with the team at present – they’re still 240km away at Baldauren, and our phones don’t have service – but shortly after the medal cutoffs were decided the UK deputy showed us a text from his team, saying “New Zealand is ecstatic, they’re celebrating with Patiakin” (a member of their team). They will be transferred back to Astana tomorrow, and we’re looking forward to seeing them again and congratulating them then.

Full results for the 2010 IMO can be found on imo-official.org.

IMO 2010: co-ordination, day two

Chris — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:10:21 +0000

After a marathon final session that spent over two hours on a single script, we finally completed co-ordination at about 7:15 this evening. We were the very last team to do so. We’re extremely happy with how the team have done: their scores are

Malcolm Granville (Auckland Grammar School), 22
Stephen Mackereth (King’s College), 16
Yuan (Edward) Wang (Hillcrest High School), 15
Tom Yan (Auckland Grammar School), 21
Robert Zhang (Auckland Grammar School), 16
Sicong Zhang (Auckland International College), 16

for a total of 106 points – about 6 or so points behind the United Kingdom, and 22 points behind Australia. The team each have a perfect score on at least one problem; three have perfect scores on two, and two have perfect scores on three. The Dutch team all have two perfect scores each, and a total of 94 points.

The postponement of problem two worked in our favour, as it gave us a chance to find an extra two points for Stephen that we hadn’t seen initially. And the second postponement went just as we’d expected, and we came away with the five sevens and one six the team deserved, after twenty minutes going through the remaining three scripts line by line. But we ended up having a third postponement, on problem four. A certain NZL1 had solved both geometry problems analytically, using complex numbers; and while both solutions were perfectly correct, and each only 3-4 pages long, they had each taken me several hours and eight pages of work to check. The one for problem four in particular had a step that involved equating a three by four term expansion with a six by six, cancelling terms and then factoring as six terms times four; so when the co-ordinators wanted to check the solution line by line, you can imagine it took some time…

I’d anticipated receiving solutions via complex geometry, so had come to Kazakhstan armed with two sheets of useful formulae, and had solved problem four myself using complex numbers (but a slightly different method) in Almaty. I’d also set up problem two (correctly, as it turned out!), but not had the stamina to carry it out. Moreover (and at great risk of being awarded the golden microphone, for the most speeches at the jury meetings!) I’d succeeded in getting a motion passed that “an incomplete analytic solution, that can be easily completed to a full solution” would receive three points instead of zero. All this preparation and my careful check of Malcolm’s script paid off. Ilya did most of the co-ordinating in Russian, with me writing the occasional equation or feeding Ilya some explanation as needed; and at last we all smiled, shook hands all round on our sixth seven for the problem, and went to dinner. These two solutions are by now infamous among the leaders and deputies we spend time with….but a perfect seven is a perfect seven!

We can certainly expect some medals this year; but just how many, and what type, won’t be known until the cutoffs are decided at the final jury meeting tomorrow evening. Speculation is rife!

IMO 2010: co-ordination, day one

Chris — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:41:36 +0000

Today we co-ordinated the results of two problems, and rescheduled meetings for two others until tomorrow, after agreeing on the marks for three out of six students at each one. The rescheduled appointments were not entirely due to our being recalcitrant – we were admitted ten minutes late to each one, and ran out of time before we’d had a chance to look at all six scripts. And in each case we blame a large country across the Pacific: they went ten minutes over on problem one (in spite of which, the co-ordinators cut us off on the half hour!), and then must have left question two without checking in with the gatekeepers (as they would have done on question one, had we not stopped them!), who consequently thought the LCAP was still inside. Grumble grumble! Well, we can’t put all the blame on them, as rescheduling appointments seems very common this year, especially on problem one: in many cases the co-ordinators are insisting on going through solutions line by line. Earlier today the French leader told me he had eleven scripts that had been rescheduled.

Taking into account the points that have been agreed on but not yet signed off, we have a total of 41 points for the day, including five perfect scores spread between four students. Tomorrow we’re scheduled to co-ordinate problems four and six, as well as complete co-ordination for problems one and two. Our friends the Dutch have completed co-ordination of five problems, for a total of 52 so far, with a perfect 42 on problem one. They just have problem four left to co-ordinate tomorrow.

Problem six is usually the hardest problem on the IMO (although this year problem three may be giving it a run for its money), and we won’t be getting any points there: between them the team turned in just two words. But problems one and four are the two “easy” problems, and we expect some more points on them, as do the Dutch, on problem four. I’ll keep you posted!

Leaders and deputies waiting to enter the co-ordination hall.

Checking the co-ordination schedule.

Birgit and Sietske (NLD) preparing for co-ordination...

...and checking the scores posted to date. As scores for each country are confirmed they are displayed, with the score of one student per question, and one question per student, omitted to obfuscate potential medal cut-offs.

IMO 2010: on the eve of co-ordination

Chris — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 19:46:25 +0000

Much has taken place in the week since Quintijn, Johan and I flew to Almaty for the jury meetings. We spent four days there, selecting and preparing the exams with the other leaders, and then were transferred back to Astana for the opening ceremony on the 6th. The 3:30am departure for the airport was not entirely popular… We exchanged waves with our teams at the opening ceremony, and enjoyed some ethnic music, dance, and heavy metal classical music, then were taken to our hotel in Astana while the contestants were whisked off to Baldauren (240km away) for the duration of the IMO – alas it seems this year we will not see them again until the closing ceremony.

Most importantly, the first and second rounds of the competition took place yesterday and today, and the deputies are now back in Astana for co-ordination. Over the the next two days Ilya and I will be assessing the team’s scripts, and co-ordinating (finalising) their scores with representatives of the host country. We have an idea of what sort of scores we can hope for; and there are various rumours about how other countries have done; but I will avoid speculation, and wait until I have something concrete to report. Keep checking this space!

View of the mountains from Almaty.

Pre-opening ceremony entertainment.

The team on stage during the parade of teams, at the opening ceremony.

Performers leaving the stage during the opening ceremony.

The jury room in Astana, ready for us to discuss the marking schemes for the problems.

The Baiterek monument, and the United Buddy Bears, Astana city centre.

Leaders assessing their students' scripts in the jury room, near midnight.

IMO 2010: Joint training in Astana

Chris — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:59:09 +0000

After ~30 hours of travel the majority of the team arrived in Astana, Kazakhstan on the evening of Monday 28th June, joining the Dutch team there for a week-long training camp. Our numbers were finally completed by Ilya’s arrival from Germany this morning. Ilya’s arrival was highly anticipated, as his Russian has greatly increased our ability to communicate with those around us!

Our first two days in Astana passed in mathematics from breakfast to bed, with the mornings, afternoons and evenings occupied with problem sessions, lectures and the first of three mock IMOs. Today we took a break, and explored Astana on foot, admiring its many statues, fountains and domes. From tomorrow it is back to mathematics, with Johan, Quintijn (NLD) and Chris (NZL) flying to Almaty for the IMO jury meetings, and the teams continuing their training with the second mock IMO.

The IMO starts for the teams on the 5th, with the opening ceremony taking place on the 6th and the contest on the 7th and 8th. Watch this space!

Madelon and Merlijn (NLD) working with Stephen (NZL) during joint training in Astana

New Zealand and Netherlands team members discussing the solution to a problem during what was supposed to be a break.

The Otany statue, near our hotel.

(From left) Robert, Malcolm and Edward concentrating during Mock IMO 1.

Guus (NLD) making a move in an outdoor chess game during our excursion.

Lunch, excursion day. The wait was overly long...

Making our way back to the hotel, at the end of our excursion.

Evening training, excursion day. The Dutch team went to dinner at their embassy, and we went to the nearby Otany statue for a spot of combinatorics.

2010 Squad Assignment four: geometry

Chris — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 03:32:58 +0000

Here is the squad’s final assignment, on geometry, and the solutions to the combinatorics assignment. Have fun!

- Chris

Asia-Pacific Mathematical Olympiad – New Zealand results

Chris — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 03:26:07 +0000

The Asia-Pacific Mathematical Olympiad was held in March, and the official results are now available following co-ordination in the organising country, Japan. New Zealand was ranked 20th of 33 countries, and our top three scores were

Robert Zhang, Auckland Grammar School (14) – bronze medal
Malcolm Granville, Auckland Grammar School (11)
Sicong Zhang, Auckland International College (11).

Congratulations to all, and especially to Robert, for his bronze medal. Malcolm and Sicong narrowly missed out on honourable mentions, as the cutoff was set this year at 12, with a perfect score on at least one problem.

The 2010 IMO begins on July 5th, and the New Zealand team departs shortly for a week-long training camp with the Dutch team in Astana, Kazakhstan prior to the IMO.

- Chris

2010 June problems

Chris — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 02:59:45 +0000

Here are the June problems and the April solutions. We expect to post the camp selection “July Problems” in late July.

Have fun!

– Chris