U.S. Wins First Place at International Mathematics Competition in Hong Kong

[Deleted]

Tiny bit of good news for a change.





[img]http://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/images/news/Math_Olympiad_Team_2016.jpg[img]

For the second year in a row, the U.S. team won first place at the 57th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in Hong Kong, July 6-16.

The IMO is the World Championship Mathematics Competition for High School students, where the brightest mathematics students from more than 100 countries compete. The winning U.S. team score was 214 out of a possible 252, ahead of the Republic of Korea (207) and China (204).

“We are very excited to bring home another first-place IMO award, which serves as a recognition for the the high standard of mathematical creativity and problem-solving capabilities we have in our country,”said Po-Shen Loh, lead coach for the U.S. team and associate professor of mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University.

The six U.S. team members were selected through a series of competitions organized by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), culminating with the USA Mathematical Olympiad. The six team members joined 70 of their peers at Carnegie Mellon University in June to immerse themselves in problem solving for three weeks at MAA’s Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program.

“We have been running the U.S. Olympiad training program with a focus on the long-term development of our country’s talent, and it’s great to see that reflected in the continued team success a second year in a row,” said MAA Executive Director Michael Pearson.

Members of the winning 2016 U.S. team were Ankan Bhattacharya, Michael Kural, Allen Liu, Junyao Peng, Ashwin Sah, and Yuan Yao, all of whom were awarded gold medals for their individual scores. Team members Liu and Yao each earned perfect test scores. The team was accompanied by Loh and deputy coach Razvan Gelca, professor of mathematics and statistics at Texas Tech University.

IMO scores are based on the number of points scored by individual team members on six problems. On each day of the two-day competition, the teams have 4.5 hours to work on three problems. Liu and Kural are the only returning team members from last year’s winning U.S. team.

5/6 of the US team are of Asian origin though.......

[xenogear3]

You mean that in many countries they are sent to special schools and trained from an early age - without formally attending university (since that would be against the rules) - similarly as athletes in the Olympics used to be "amateurs"?

These questions come from graduate level classes, such as prime number and random theory.
Looking back, they are really easy if you had these classes.

It is not very meaningful if they had a college prof as a tutor.

[Powerogue]

I like how they treat this like a victory for American standards when it's virtually certain all of them went to private schools far above any public school, let alone the average public school.

Are we still 36th in terms of quality of education? Or have we fallen even further?

One team of six students hardly represents an entire country.

[downnola]

Are we still 36th in terms of quality of education? Or have we fallen even further?

One team of six students hardly represents an entire country.

Way to completely take the fun out of the Olympics and the World Cup. MMO-Champion Off Topic Forum: No fun allowed edition.

[Powerogue]

Way to completely take the fun out of the Olympics and the World Cup. MMO-Champion Off Topic Forum: No fun allowed edition.

That does remind me though of the idea I've heard tossed around where we show, along with the Olympians, average every day people to show the sheer contrast of how incredible what they're doing is.

It would be both spectacular and pathetic.

[May90]

Are we still 36th in terms of quality of education? Or have we fallen even further?

One team of six students hardly represents an entire country.

It does represent the possibility to get a very high quality education in this country. It doesn't represent how many people will be able to take this opportunity and how many of those who are able will though, you are right.

[oxymoronic]

Are we still 36th in terms of quality of education? Or have we fallen even further?

One team of six students hardly represents an entire country.

we were never 36th to begin with... stop trusting broken reports.

[Powerogue]

we were never 36th to begin with... stop trusting broken reports.

I admit to have just quickly googled that figure without a significant background check. Do you have a more accurate one? I wasn't so surprised by the figures as to immediately investigate them, considering other such figures like the number of US citizens who think the vast majority of science is wrong and the earth is only ~6000-10,000 years old. I've seen figures on that bounce between 30% to as much as half.

[May90]

I admit to have just quickly googled that figure without a significant background check. Do you have a more accurate one? I wasn't so surprised by the figures as to immediately investigate them, considering other such figures like the number of US citizens who think the vast majority of science is wrong and the earth is only ~6000-10,000 years old. I've seen figures on that bounce between 30% to as much as half.

The UN uses this index to rank countries by quality of education:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index

It is not perfect, but it does have some use. According to it, the US in 2013 was 5th.

[Phlegethon]

no, i just see it as easier for grouping when talking in general.

around here, if i say asians, people know exactly what i mean. if i say middle eastern, they know what i mean. it's more simplistic.

Dude, don't worry, it was irony ;-)
The "" should have given it away :s

[Deleted]

We got what? 3 Chinese Americans, 2 Indian Americans, and 1 God only knows, that's pretty diverse if you ask me.

What I see is 6 American's.
If you are born in America, you are American.
You're not African-American, Chinese-American or Indian-American.

If you were born in China you would be Chinese till you get your papers to be a a citizen of America which would make it Chinese & American.

[enragedgorilla]

Love the melting pot that is the U.S. of A.
6 American kids doing their best and winning.
Whats not to love?


Just Americans by the way...everything else is divisive.

[Draco-Onis]

The UN uses this index to rank countries by quality of education:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index

It is not perfect, but it does have some use. According to it, the US in 2013 was 5th.

The United States has the best educational system money can buy, the same goes for healthcare the keywords are money can buy. The low rankings has to do with the performance that the average american gets in childhood, early childhood education and infant poverty. If you have the money it's the best place to get an education we have some of the top private schools in the world.