IMC Problem Solving Seminar (Spring 2022)

Our primary goal is to have fun by discussing some challenging contest type problems. Another objective is to select and train a team of students for the 29th International Mathematics Competition (IMC) which will be held in Blagoevgrad (August 1-7, 2022), Bulgaria. We will organise team selection contests and training sessions.

All the latest information including zoom links for the training sessions will be posted here. Please keep an eye on this website to find out next steps.

Registration

Please sign up by filling this form  Registration  by Thursday the 3rd of February, 2022. If you get excited when you solve logical and mathematical puzzles, you are right for this.

How to Practice

The best practice strategy is to try to solve as many problems as possible from the previous and related contests. We especially suggest that you form groups and work together. See some of the resources below, more will be provided as we go along:

• • IMC's website: http://imc-math.org.uk/

  • AoPS Undergraduate Contests Collection: https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c15_undergraduate_contests

  • SEEMOUS: http://www.massee-org.eu/index.php/mathematical/seemous

  • Vojtech Jarnik comptetition: https://vjimc.osu.cz/

  • Putnam Competition: https://kskedlaya.org/putnam-archive/

Note that IMC is rather difficult and you might be better-off starting with SEEMOUS, Putnam, Vojtech Jarnick practice problems.

Preliminary Exam

We will be holding a 4-hour-long exam on Saturday, sometime in April. This exam will be set and graded in a manner similar to the IMC but the problems are designed to be slightly easier.

Training Phase

We expect selected students to self-organise and train on their own. However, we will hold  training sessions taught by  members of our department as well as by several invited guest lecturers.

Team Selection Contest

We will hold a final team selection exam on Saturday, 11th of June, 2022. The problems will be of the same difficulty as IMC. The School of Mathematics will cover the travel and registration expenses of the selected team.

Training Sessions

The first training session is scheduled for

February 5, 2022 (Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.): training session by Oleksiy Klurman. 

February 12, 2022 (Saturday, 10:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.): training session by Oleksiy Klurman. Zoom link will be available the day before.

February 19, 2022 (Saturday, 10:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.): training session by Kevin Hughes. 

February 26, 2022 (Saturday, 10:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.): training session by Safoura Zadeh. 

March 5, 2022 (Saturday, 10:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.):  training session by Charles Cox.

March 12, 2022 (Saturday, 10:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.):  training session by Charles Cox.

March 19, 2022 (Saturday, 10:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.):  training session by Safoura Zadeh.

March 26, 2022 (Saturday, 10:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.):  training session by Oleksiy Klurman