July 2016

ITYM 8 – International Tournament of Young Mathematicians

The Tournament of Young Mathematicians is a team competition for pupils from all over the world who compete in their ability to solve tricky mathematical tasks, present the results obtained in the most advantageous way, and defend their point of view with substantial arguments in a public discussion. A number of successive mathematical battles form the core of the tournament when the teams demonstrate their skills necessary for further research and support of the results they have achieved so far.

The level of the tasks solved at the tournament is very high. Quite often, they are linked to works of professional mathematicians including those dedicated to unresolved issues of contemporary Mathematics. This explains the small number of countries (7–9) that take part on the tournament regularly and provide teams every year. France, Belarus, and Russia are the leaders among them having the same tournaments on the national level. The teams from Germany, Bulgaria, and Romania are also considered to be strong, while others participate depending on the level of training of their teams.

The 8th Tournament of Young Mathematicians took place in St. Petersburg on the basis of Laboratory of Continuous Mathematical Education and ITMO University. 15 teams from 8 countries applied for participation. Following the results of pre-qualification, 12 teams from 7 countries were invited to participate, namely 3 teams from France, 2 teams from Belarus, Germany, and Russia each, and one team from Bulgaria, Romania, and Brazil each.

Persistent struggle led to Belarusian teams winning two diplomas: the first team won the second degree diploma and silver medals and the second team won the third degree diploma and bronze medals. The teams from Russia and France won the tournament.

Pupils of five educational institutions formed the first Belarusian team winning silver, namely:

  • Artyom Glotov – 11th class, State Educational Institution “Soligorsk Gymnasium No. 1”
  • Anna Zadorozhniuk – 11th class, State Educational Institution “Gomel Secondary School No. 8”
  • Pyotr Ignatenko – 9th class, State Educational Institution “Minsk Gymnasium No. 29”
  • Tatyana Polikarpova – 11th class, State Educational Institution “BSU Lyceum”
  • Умеренков Василий – 10th class, State Educational Institution “BSU Lyceum”
  • Шешко Николай – 10th class, State Educational Institution “Minsk Gymnasium No. 41 Named After V. K. Serebryany”

Pupils of four educational institutions formed the second team winning bronze, namely:

  • Daniil Baldovsky – 11th class, State Educational Institution “BSU Lyceum”
  • Anna Belesheva – 10th class, State Educational Institution “Minsk Gymnasium No. 1 Named After F. Skorina”
  • Arina Golubitskaya – 9th class, State Educational Institution “Minsk Gymnasium No. 41 Named After V. K. Serebryany”
  • Andrei Narodetsky – 9th class, State Educational Institution “Minsk Gymnasium No. 13”
  • Liana Khazaliya – 11th class, State Educational Institution “Minsk Gymnasium No. 41 Named After V. K. Serebryany”
  • Andrei Shakel – 9th class, State Educational Institution “Minsk Gymnasium No. 13”

It is worth mentioning that almost half the members of the second team had just finished 9 classes. The children won the first qualifying battle and performed well in the final of the tournament. This is a great start.

Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science of BSU is one of the founders and organizers of the Tournament of Young Mathematicians. The teachers of the University are members of the international organizing committee and the international judging panel. This year Boris Zadvorny (Vice President of the organizing committee, Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science), Igor Badyagin (Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science), and Boris Durov (Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics) represented Belarus in the judging panel among other 32 members.

Links:

 

Project list