International Math Olympiad 2014 results are in! (India fails again)

[Edison Chen]

Anyone on PDF can solve these problems?

 

[mahesh.]

Culture has a lot to do with math. Many American students are bad at math because it is "not cool" somehow. Also the way it is taught might discourage students from studying math because they think it is boring.

I dont know why every one says Americans are bad at math. I think American students who concentrate are in top level and the rest dont care about education. Like in Asia education is not every thing for most Americans.
In India math is given importance in school level. Most parents only see the math of their sons and daughters. But still we are at 39th place. Its the way they teach math is making Indian students lag in this competition. Indian culture is very favorable for this type of competitions but I think what we lack is proper training and publicity among schools.

 

[M_Saint]

As I said, winning an IMO medal is much more difficult than attaining perfect SAT scores.

SAT, GMAT and GRE's maths are easy comapre to math Olympiad's questions.

 

[Arya Desa]

Too nerdy for me lol If I could answer Problem 1 my girlfriend would leave me

 

[Wagner]

Hi Wagner, are you a mathematician? You seem quite in tune with the math culture.

No, but I find math culture fascinating after watching the BBC documentary Beautiful Young Minds.

There is talent every where in the world. Be it Africa EU America, Latin or South Asia. Math and Talent are not a patent for a particular genes or country. It requires efforts and organized system to unearth talent and train them. Or it should be heavily publicized and known and matter to the common public to generate interest.

This is true to some extent. If you look at the Wiki article "List of International Mathematical Olympiad participants" you'll find notable contestants from all areas of the world except Africa. The second youngest Gold Medalist after Terence Tao was a Peruvian kid. Makes you wonder even more why India is such a non-entity at the competition.

 

[mahesh.]

SAT, GMAT and GRE's maths are easy comapre to math Olympiad's questions.

GRE GMAT is a joke for Mathematics. Every average Indian student can get a perfect score in math in those exams.

 

[proka89]

You realize more Indians make it to Harvard and Mit that any other country in the world expect China.

You realize that China and India have some 2.5 billion of people out of 7 billion in total that live on this planet? There are 10 cities in China with a larger population than Serbia, and many other European countries. Comparing China and India with some small countries like Serbia is pointeles. We have some 3-5000 engineering graduates per year compared with how many form India and China?

 

[mahesh.]

No, but I find math culture fascinating after watching the BBC documentary Beautiful Young Minds.



This is true to some extent. If you look at the Wiki article "List of International Mathematical Olympiad participants" you'll find notable contestants from all areas of the world except Africa. The second youngest Gold Medalist after Terence Tao was a Peruvian kid. Makes you wonder even more why India is such a non-entity at the competition.

I saw the article. There is a list for IMO participants have gone on to become notable mathematicians. There is not even a single Chinese participant. Any reason..?

 

[IsaacNewton]

GRE GMAT is a joke for Mathematics. Every average Indian student can get a perfect score in math in those exams.

I agree, the math in the general GRE test is very simple.

Try the math subject GRE. GRE Subject Tests: Mathematics

Definitely not as hard as math Olympiad but if you could score perfect on that test, then you likely know everything about undergraduate math for a math major.

I saw the article. There is a list for IMO participants have gone on to become notable mathematicians. There is not even a single Chinese participant. Any reason..?

I believe China did not start participating until 1982. They were quite politically isolated (no Olympics, UN, ect).

 

[Wagner]

You realize that China and India have some 2.5 billion of people out of 7 billion in total that live on this planet? There are 10 cities in China with a larger population than Serbia, and many other European countries. Comparing China and India with some small countries like Serbia is pointeles. We have some 3-5000 engineering graduates per year compared with how many form India and China?

Exactly. In comparison, the largest European country besides Russia is Germany with a mere 80 million people. The population of China or India could flood Germany 10x over and still have millions to spare.

 

[M_Saint]

View attachment 38455

Anyone on PDF can solve these problems?

Edison, are these probs from this yr's math olympiad?

 

[karan21]

You realize that China and India have some 2.5 billion of people out of 7 billion in total that live on this planet? There are 10 cities in China with a larger population than Serbia, and many other European countries. Comparing China and India with some small countries like Serbia is pointeles. We have some 3-5000 engineering graduates per year compared with how many form India and China?

India graduates about 0.75 million eng grads, China over 1.2 million.

 

[mahesh.]

Also this is the list for most prominent awards in Mathematics around the world.

Wolf Prize in Mathematics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abel Prize - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fields Medal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

By seeing the list I think Chinese are training students specifically for IMO. Which in my opinion is not a good idea.

 

[Wagner]

I saw the article. There is a list for IMO participants have gone on to become notable mathematicians. There is not even a single Chinese participant. Any reason..?

Lots of the participants who have won a Fields Medal or EMS Prize are from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. China only started competing at the IMO in 1985. There's often a time lag between making a significant contribution to mathematics and receiving an award for it. Of course, there are also many notable tenured mathematicians who will never receive a Fields Medal or EMS Prize. Those awards are not the only measure of success.

 

[mahesh.]

I agree, the math in the general GRE test is very simple.

Try the math subject GRE. GRE Subject Tests: Mathematics

Definitely not as hard as math Olympiad but if you could score perfect on that test, then you likely know everything about undergraduate math for a math major.



I believe China did not start participating until 1982. They were quite politically isolated (no Olympics, UN, ect).

Dude I scored perfect in GRE very easily and I am only an average Indian student. I didnt even pass in distinction in my undergrad.