International Mathematical Olympiad

The International Mathematical Olympiad is the pinnacle of all high school mathematics competitions and the oldest of all international scientific competitions. Each year, countries from around the world send a team of 6 students to compete in a grueling competition.

Format of the Competition

The competition takes place over 2 consecutive days. Each day 3 problems are given to the students to work on for 4.5 hours. Following the general format of high school competitions, it does not require calculus or related topics.

Scoring

Scoring on each problem is done on a 0-7 scale (inclusive and integers only). Full credit is only given for complete, correct solutions. Each solution is intended to be in the form of a mathematical proof. Since there are 6 problems, a perfect score is 42 points.

Awards

Medals, honorable mentions and sometimes, special prizes are given out.

Gold - the top 1/12 of individual scores.
Silver - the next 2/12 of individual scores.
Bronze - the next 3/12 of individual scores.
Honorable mention - any student who receives a score of 7 on any one problem but did not receive a medal.
Special Prize - Given to students who score 7 in one problem with an especially insightful solution.

Team Competition

There is no official team competition. Unofficially, however, the scores of each team are compared each year where a team's score is the sum of their individual scores.

History

The IMO started in 1959 as a competition among Eastern European countries. Since then, it has evolved into the premier international competition in mathematics.

External Links

<url>index.php?f=87 AoPS-MathLinks IMO Forum</url>
<url>resources.php AoPS-MathLinks Olympiad Resources</url>
Official IMO Site
IMO 2007 Vietnam
IMO 2006 Slovenia

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