PH Wins Two Silver and Two Bronze Medals in IMO 2015

The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is the most prestigious mathematics competition for high school students and is the oldest of all the International Science Olympiads. In recent years, it attracts over 500 students coming from about 100 countries, making it the largest of all math competitions in terms of participating nations. Each country can only send at most six contestants, who will be accompanied by a Team Leader, a Deputy Team leader and possibly some observers.

The IMO was first held in 1959 in Romania, and has been held annually in various host countries. This year, it was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand on July 4-16, 2015.

The Competition

Questions at the IMO come from four subject areas: geometry, algebra (polynomials, inequalities and functional equations), number theory and combinatorics. Months before the IMO, participating countries contribute candidate questions, which are then screened by the Problem Selection Committee. The roughly 30 pre-selected problems are to be presented to the International Jury composed of the Team Leaders of each participating country. For this reason, the Team Leaders have to arrive to the host country earlier than the Deputies and Contestants, and are forbidden from interacting with them until the end of the exams. Over the span of about four days, the Jury deliberates and finalizes the six IMO problems, their various translations and marking schemes.

The six problems appearing at the IMO are certainly very difficult that even the easiest of these is several times harder than the math problems that are usually encountered by high school students. These six problems are administered to all participants over the span of two days, and the three problems in each day are to be tackled within four and a half hours.

Each question at the IMO is worth seven points. Owing to the difficulty of all six problems, a contestant who completely solves one problem is immediately given an Honorable Mention award. After all the papers have been marked jointly by an IMO committee and the country’s Team Leaders, cut-off scores for Gold, Silver and Bronze medals are decided by the International Jury. The total number of medals that are awarded is no more than half of the number of participants.

The Philippine Team

Our country’s team is selected from the 20 National Finalists of the Philippine Mathematical Olympiad. The finalists are invited to join the Math Olympiad Summer Camp (MOSC), which takes place at the Institute of Mathematics of UP Diliman in April and May.

This year, the trainers at the MOSC were Jose Ernie Lope (UP Diliman), Richard Eden (ADMU), Louie John Vallejo (UP Diliman), Joseph Ray Clarence Damasco (UP Diliman), Job Nable (ADMU), Timothy Robin Teng (ADMU) and John Gabriel Pelias (UP Diliman).

The Team is composed of Clyde Wesley S. Ang (Chiang Kai Shek College), Kyle Patrick F. Dulay (Philippine Science High School – Main), Raymond Joseph C. Fadri (Makati Science High School), Albert John L. Patupat (Holy Rosary College), Adrian Reginald C. Sy (St. Jude Catholic School) and Farrell Eldrian S. Wu (MGC New Life Christian Academy).

Jose Ernie Lope is the country’s Team Leader and Louie John Vallejo the Deputy Team Leader. Richard Eden joined the country’s delegation as Observer in preparation for next year when he takes over as Team Leader.

The MOSC and the Philippine participation to the IMO are joint projects of the DOST Science Education Institute and the Mathematical Society of the Philippines. This year, these projects have been generously supported by the Foundation for the Upgrading of Secondary Education (FUSE), Metrobank Foundation, Inc. (MBDI), UP Diliman Institute of Mathematics, ADMU Department of Mathematics, Social Security System (SSS), Mathematics Teachers Association of the Philippines (MTAP), United Coconut Planters Life Assurance Corporation and Holy Rosary College. The parents of the contestants also helped in raising funds for the Philippine Team.

The Results

These were the scores of our contestants: Clyde (19), Kyle (12), Raymond (3), Albert (15), Adrian (21) and Farrell (17). The cut-offs this year were 26 for Gold, 19 for Silver and 14 for Bronze. Thus, Adrian and Clyde garnered Silver Medals, Farrell and Albert got Bronze Medals, and Kyle an Honorable Mention.

The Philippine Team got a total score of 87 and ranked 36 among 104 participating countries (66% percentile). This brought us closer to Southeast Asian powerhouses like Hong Kong (#28) and Indonesia (#29), and ranked us higher than usually strong countries like Belarus (#39) and Netherlands (#43). This is the best finish of the country since it first participated in 1989.

Clyde, Kyle, Raymond, Albert, Adrian and Farrell, we are truly proud of each and every one of you!