International Mathematical Olympiad facts for kids

The logo of the International Mathematical Olympiad

The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a big math competition for students who are not yet in university. It's the oldest and most famous math competition in the world! The first IMO happened in Romania in 1959. Since then, it has been held every year, except for 1980. More than 100 countries take part, and each country sends a team of up to six students. They also have a team leader, a deputy leader, and observers.

The math problems in the IMO are very challenging. They cover topics like algebra, geometry, number theory, and combinatorics. These are often subjects that students don't usually learn much about in high school, and sometimes not even in early university! Even though the problems are hard, you don't need to know calculus to solve them. The idea is that anyone with a basic understanding of math should be able to understand the problems, even if finding the solutions takes a lot of clever thinking. This encourages students to find smart and elegant ways to solve problems.

Each country chooses its team differently, but it often involves a series of tests. About half of the students who compete receive awards. These awards are given to individual students, not to teams. Students must be under 20 years old and cannot be enrolled in a university. If they meet these rules, they can participate in the IMO multiple times.

History of the IMO
How the Competition Works
How Students are Chosen
Awards and Recognition
Fair Play and Rules
Gender Gap in Math
Media Fun
Medals (1959–2023)
Images for kids
See also

History of the IMO

The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has happened every year since then, except in 1980 when it was cancelled. The competition originally started for countries in Eastern Europe, but soon many other countries joined in. Because of its beginnings in Eastern Europe, the first few IMOs were held there, but over time, it spread to other nations around the world.

Some famous mathematicians started their journey at the IMO! People like Lisa Sauermann, Reid W. Barton, Nicușor Dan, and Ciprian Manolescu have won many gold medals at the IMO. Other former participants, such as Terence Tao, Artur Avila, Grigori Perelman, Ngô Bảo Châu, and Maryam Mirzakhani, have become very well-known mathematicians. Some have even won prestigious awards like the Fields Medal, which is like a Nobel Prize for math!

How the Competition Works

The IMO competition has 6 math problems. Students solve 3 problems on the first day and 3 problems on the second day. Each day, they have four and a half hours to solve the problems. Each problem is worth 7 points, so the highest possible score is 42 points. Students are not allowed to use calculators or protractors.

The problems come from different areas of high school math, like geometry, number theory, algebra, and combinatorics. You don't need to know advanced math like calculus to solve them. The problems are designed to test your creativity and quick thinking. They often involve tricky algebraic inequalities or problems with complex numbers.

Countries (except the host country) can suggest problems for the competition. A special committee then chooses a shortlist of problems. A few days before the students arrive, the team leaders form the IMO Jury. This Jury picks the final six problems from the shortlist. They try to arrange the problems from easiest to hardest: Problem 1, then 4, then 2, then 5, then 3, and finally 6. The team leaders know the problems beforehand, so they are kept separate from the students.

After the competition, each country's scores are checked by their team leader and special coordinators from the host country. If there are any disagreements, a chief coordinator or the Jury makes the final decision.

How Students are Chosen

The way students are chosen for the IMO team is different in each country. In some countries, like those in East Asia, students go through several very difficult tests that are similar to the IMO itself. For example, students in China attend a special training camp. In other countries, like the United States, students take a series of easier competitions that gradually get harder. In the US, these include the American Mathematics Competitions, the American Invitational Mathematics Examination, and the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad. Top scorers in the final competition might also attend a summer math camp.

Some countries used to choose their teams years in advance and give them special training. However, this method is not as common anymore.

Awards and Recognition

Students are ranked based on their individual scores. Medals are given to the top-scoring students. Slightly less than half of all participants receive a medal. The scores needed for a gold, silver, or bronze medal are set so that the number of gold, silver, and bronze medals are roughly in a 1:2:3 ratio. If a student doesn't win a medal but scores 7 points on at least one problem, they receive an honorable mention.

Sometimes, special prizes are given for solutions that are especially clever or show a new way to solve a problem. This doesn't happen very often, but it's a big honor!

The rule is that at most half of the students should win a medal. However, this rule is sometimes bent a little if it means too many or too few medals would be given out. In some years, slightly more than half of the students received a medal.

Fair Play and Rules

Unfortunately, there have been times when countries or students faced penalties. For example, North Korea was disqualified twice for cheating. There have also been cases where individual students were penalized for bringing forbidden items, like a book of formulas or calculators.

More recently, Russia has not been allowed to participate in the Olympiad since 2022 because of its actions in Ukraine. However, a small number of Russian students (6) were still allowed to compete online, but their scores were not counted towards the official medal tally.

Gender Gap in Math

Over the years, many more boys than girls have participated in the IMO. From 2000 to 2021, only about 9% of all contestants were girls. The difference is even bigger when looking at gold medal winners.

Because of this difference, the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO) was created. This competition aims to encourage more girls to get involved in high-level math competitions.

Media Fun

The exciting world of the IMO has even been featured in movies and books!

A documentary called "Hard Problems: The Road To The World's Toughest Math Contest" was made about the United States team in 2006.
The BBC made a documentary called Beautiful Young Minds in 2007.
A BBC movie called X+Y (released in 2014) tells the story of an autistic boy who takes part in the Olympiad.
A book called Countdown by Steve Olson shares the story of the United States team's success in the 2001 Olympiad.

Medals (1959–2023)

Here are the top countries with the best results over all the years:

Country	Appearances	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Honorable Mentions	Gold in Last 10 years(2014–2023)
China	38	180	36	6	0	51
United States	49	146	119	30	1	46
Russia	31	111	63	12	0	27
South Korea	36	93	79	28	7	38
Hungary	63	86	171	115	10	9
Romania	64	85	154	110	7	12
Soviet Union	29	77	67	45	0	N/A
Vietnam	47	69	115	82	2	20
Bulgaria	64	57	127	119	14	4
United Kingdom	56	54	121	130	18	13
Germany	46	54	112	87	16	5
Iran	38	50	110	49	4	12
Japan	34	46	96	51	5	14
Taiwan	32	44	103	36	8	15
Ukraine	32	43	73	55	9	14
Canada	43	42	67	96	20	17
Thailand	35	34	67	52	24	20
Poland	63	33	94	143	28	8
Australia	43	28	77	100	28	13
France	54	26	69	128	28	3
Singapore	36	24	69	75	23	17
North Korea	14	22	36	9	2	9
Italy	44	21	51	78	35	11
Turkey	40	20	72	93	15	4
Israel	42	20	66	105	23	8
India	34	16	73	79	28	5

Images for kids

A stage in the process of solving a problem from the AIME, part of the United States' selection process.
Some of gold medal contestants during the IMO 2015 closing ceremony, Chiang Mai Thailand
Members of the 2007 IMO Greek team.
The four perfect scorers in the 2001 IMO. From left to right: Gabriel Carroll, Reid Barton (both United States), Liang Xiao and Zhiqiang Zhang (both China).
The Bangladesh team at the 2009 IMO
Serbia's team for the 2010 IMO
Zhuo Qun (Alex) Song (Canadian), the most highly decorated IMO contestant with 5 golds and 1 bronze medal
Maryam Mirzakhani (Iran), the first woman to be honored with a Fields Medal, won 2 gold medals in 1994 and 1995, getting a perfect score in the second year.