New Zealand Maths Olympiad Committee online

Thank you to everyone who participated in the September problems. We had a large number of high quality entries this year, which will give us an excellent pool from which to select the participants for January’s camp in Christchurch. Let me just take this opportunity to remind you that we treat these problems as a filter rather than a competition. In other words we will not be releasing scores or rankings, simply using them to make the decision about whom to invite to the camp. Anyhow, a number of you have expressed interest in seeing the solutions, so here they are.

Do keep in mind that these are only possible solutions. For maths problems of this type, there is generally more than one correct path (but, unfortunately also many more incorrect paths!) towards a solution. You may well have found (or thought you found) a better one. The evaluation of your papers is done on their individual merits, not by comparison to any sort of a standard or official solution.

Michael

The deadline for you to submit your solutions to the September Problems is tomorrow, 21st October… But! I will be away on leave from the 21st to the 28th, so the effective deadline for submission is 29th October 2009. All submissions received by this date (hard copies only, please – I’d prefer that solutions not be submitted by email) will be treated as having arrived on time.

I’ve received nearly 80 submissions so far. If I received your submission by Tuesday 20th October you should have got an email back from me acknowledging it (provided you gave me a legible address on your form). Solutions received after the 20th will be acknowledged after my return.

- Chris Tuffley

Well, it may not attract the same amount of press that the arrival of the Beaujolais Nouveau does, but this year’s September problems which we use to select students to attend camp in January are now available.

Please read the instructions and registration document carefully (.doc version). In particular, note that you are to spend at most 10 days working on the problems, and not to get outside aid of any sort (including, it should be needless to say, from the internet).

Please note also that these problems are not a competition in the ordinary sense of the word. We use them simply as a filter to determine the 24 students to invite to camp. In particular, within that 24 or outside that 24 we don’t rank the outcomes.

Finally, good luck with the problems!

Michael

The last few days have been full of activity, as the IMO draws to a close: the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the IMO on Sunday 19th; an excursion (with 1200 participants!) to Wangerooge and the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site on Monday 20th; and of course the closing and awards ceremony on Tuesday 21st. Pictures follow.

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Official results of the 2009 IMO have been posted. An NZ-centric executive summary follows. Read more »

Shortly before lunch we wrapped up the coordination of the New Zealand papers at the 2009 IMO. For comments and pictures, read on. Read more »