15 Anecdotes

1985: Meeting the Duke

When I was at the Open University in 1978 I joined the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, the relevant British Mathematical Professional Society for my interests. My professional profile was sufficient for me to be admitted as an Associate Fellow and when I received my certificate I noticed it was personally signed by the Duke of Edinburgh as `Philip'.

My research showed that Prince Philip showed more than an active interest in the Institute, was a Member of the Institute's Council and attended Council meetings. I suggested to Peter O'Halloran we could invite him to be a Patron of the Australian Mathematics Competition. After some discussion Peter O'Halloran agreed that it was a good idea and he wrote to Prince Philip inviting him as such. We were thrilled to hear back a few weeks later that he would be very happy to accept. So he remained our Patron for quite a number of years.

In 1985 it was announced Prince Philip would be visiting Australia in October and would be spending a few days at Government House in Melbourne. We asked if he could be our Guest of Honour for our Medal Presentation at Government House. Again we had an affirmative reply, and the ceremony was set for Monday 10 October.

A few days before this event was due the Victorian Governor became embroiled in a local scandal and it was decided Prince Philip would now stay at the Hilton Hotel and perform our function there instead at 0900. We arrived and noticed that in fact Prince Philip was Patron of quite a number of Australian charities and not for profits, and by the notice board outside the presentation room we saw we were to be the first of many cabs off the rank for the day. I recall the one after us was the World Wildlife Fund.

We were handed our protocol running sheet and to my embarrassment they had mixed me and Peter O'Halloran up and I was placed in front of Peter in the line to meet the Duke on arrival. He arrived and stopped with me and said a number of very nice things about what I was doing. He then moved on to Peter and asked `and what do you do?' A rather exasperated Peter exclaimed `I run the competition!'

The Duke with Peter O'Halloran after the presentation. The program for the event can be found here.

1997: Judy Cassab paints Bernhard Neumann

In 1997 Cheryl Praeger donated a significant sum of money to go towards a painting of Bernhard Neumann. Don Aitkin believed the ideal artist for Bernhard was dual Archibald prizewinner Judy Cassab, based in Double Bay. An agreement was reached with the artist, with the Trust topping up the cost and Bernhard went to Sydney for a few days for the work to be done.

While the work was being done Judy Cassab graciously invited me to visit, so I went to her house, which also contained her studio. Bernhard was there as also was Judy's elderly husband. It was a wonderful experience, and she gave me a signed copy of her autobiography.

The painting was completed and delivered in October, and Bernhard is seen during the unveiling in the University's Council Room on 11 November. The painting is a beautiful rendition, with particular interesting treatment of his hands.

Judy Cassab, who later died at the age of 95 on 03 November 2015, is also famous for the Sutherland and Helpmann paintings in the Sydney Opera House, paintings of Princess Alexandria and the Duchess of Kent in Buckingham Palace, and others including Hugh Gaitskell, Robert Morley, Margaret Whitlam, Nugget Coombs and Frank Packer.

1998: Office moves from Caretaker's Cottage to 170 Haydon Drive

As described in other chapters, the office of the AMT (or its predecessor) had a number of moves as it grew. The last one, to its present premises in Haydon Drive, took place in February 1998.

Here are some of the staff during the move, from left IT Manager Renzo Gobbin, Manager Sally Bakker, Editor Andrei Storozhev and my PA for many years Clarice McLean.

1999: One of Ralph Stanton's Visits

Professor Ralph Stanton was the first Head of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo in Canada, and is largely responsible for it becoming one the largest Mathematics Faculties in North America, with a number of strong Departments, including in his own field of combinatorics. He was also largely responsible for the founding of the Canadian Competition, which had a recruiting strategy for Canada's top students as part of its aims.

As a result he had Australian ties, not just research ties with Australian Professor Anne Street (discussed here in AMOC chapters 7 and 12), but also Peter O'Halloran. He, together with his colleague, Ernest A. Ruet d'Auteuil, continued after Peter's death to visit Australia almost annually and I would get some of his Australian colleagues together for a dinner when he was in town. Joe Gani was normally one of these but not in the photo below (because he took the photo).

During the 1999 visit are Ralph, John Burns, Bernhard Neumann, Peter Taylor and Ernest.

2012: Retirement

As had been long arranged, I was to retire at the end of 2012. A successor had been found and it was now up to me to ensure that the change in management would be smooth. Much to my surprise, however the retirement triggered a string of pleasant events and honours.

At first there were several surprises in Asia. I am not sure how much Jan Collins put my various hosts up to this, but at all my destinations something special seemed to happen. The first one, in Manila, was remarkable, with a special tribute half hour being held after the main presentation.

During this tribute there seemed to be a special song for the occasion which my friends, including Simon Chua in the centre (above) are singing, in karaoke style, interviews with students studying overseas saying they had been inspired to higher study by my visits, speeches by local school principals, etc. It was certainly one of the most pleasantly emotional experiences I had ever felt, probably the most pleasant of my life, especially as it was totally unexpected.

In this function I was also presented with this beautiful model of a filipino boat and framed certificate.

While in Jakarta for my final AMC ceremony there I was presented with this watercolour of myself with Indonesian colleague and friend Ridwan Saputra.

In Kuala Lumpur I was presented with this plaque.

In Wellington I was presented with this glass koru statue, maori canoe and scroll, by New Zealand's Minister of Education, Hon Hekia Parata in Parliament House.

With the Minister and Medallists.

Then there were two official functions in Canberra. The first was a dinner at University of Canberra Vice Chancellor Stephen Parker's home, at which all my children were present, in which Stephen announced I would be an Emeritus Professor, and then a more informal affair attended by staff and volunteers, including a number of former staff.

Professor Stephen Parker, UC Vice Chancellor, makes his speech upon my retirement at the function he held at his home. (Board chairman Greg Taylor can just be seen at left.)

I was also presented at the function with this plaque from the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers by CEO Will Morony.

At the special function for staff and volunteers, I was very happy that Leone Paget (left), David's widow, made the special visit from Hobart, while Peter O'Halloran's widow Marjorie also attended.

And I was wrapped in the attendance of fantastic staff, past and present, some of whom I had not expected nor seen for many years. From left are Jan Lynch (former assistant in my office, a quiet place often referred to by other staffers by insincere names such as cow corner), Ross McLean (former office building manager, fantastically sincere and decent man who also attended Lois' funeral), Suzanne Fraser (former Manager and still AMT Accountant), Elizabeth Courtney-Frost (in recent years my very capable PA), Sue Paice (had been an IT programmer for a long time and had done a lot of work on my research), Sally Bakker (first staff member, started in 1978 and long term manager, who established successful staff culture, still Deputy Chair of AMF), Renzo Gobbin (former IT Manager, who had worked with me before in the University and later returned there), Irene Lumley (fairly new in historical terms as logistics manager), Richard Bollard (long term staff member, only surviving one who dates back to Peter O'Halloran era), Lilani Kiridani (finance officer), Toni Paine (long term IT programmer), Peter Taylor, Donna Priol (replaced Jan Lynch in Executive Director office), Heather Sommariva (graphic designer, very loyal long term staffer, maybe second longest record to Richard), Fiona Hale (current, very new PA), Jan Collins (Brisbanite manager over the last two or three years, who obviously had a lot to do with the setting up of minute detail of my retirement and since herself retired to live in Tasmania), Bernadette Webster (does a lot of things in office but is best known as a mathematician and proof reader with great detail), Sharon Blyton (finance officer over a long period of time) and Mary Blink (who I thought retired but re-appears regularly in the office doing all sorts of things).

There were, of course former key staffers who had good reason not to be there, because of distance etc. Clarice McLean was my PA during most of my term and much of Peter O'Halloran's but had by then returned to Victoria, from where she had come and to where all her children had now gone, and also Anne Barnet, who was the second Manager, replacing Sally Bakker, had also moved to Victoria.

At this function with the two Chairmen of the AMT Board who I worked under, at left Don Aitkin (Chair 1992 to 2004) and Greg Taylor (Chair 2004 to present).

I was presented with this caricature, excellently worked by Gold Coast artist Phil Spratt.

Another most appreciated gesture is a photographic portrait taken of me by Canberra's leading portrait photographer Heidi Smith, and this hangs now somewhere in the Trust's office, image shown below.

Overseas Visitors

One of Peter O'Halloran's early initiatives was to invite one or two distinguished problem creators to Australia each late May or early June to sit on the problem committees of the Australian Mathematics Competition and the Mathematics Challenge for Young Australians, which met on successive weekends at this time.

The thinking behind this was simple and logical. In Peter's travels he would meet plenty of these people. But it was more cost effective for the professional development of our creators to bring some international problem creators to Australia, where many people could benefit from their interactions, than to send a few overseas themselves (although some of that happened also).

Some of the more regular visitors were George Berzsenyi (USA), Andy Liu (Canada), Jordan Tabov (Bulgaria), Ron Dunkley (Canada) and John Webb (South Africa) although many others were also to visit. During the 1999 visit, I am shown above with Maurice Starck (New Caledonia) and Robert Geretschlaeger (Austria), in Sydney before they returned home. Maurice was responsible for considerable New Caledonia participation and translated the AMC paper to French, while Robert has become Senior Vice President of WFNMC and also has considerable influence with the kangaroo competition in Europe.

Families of students

One of the most famous families in AMT history is the Adelaide Tao family, led by Fields Medallist Terry. As documented elsewhere, Terry's brothers Nigel and Trevor all made the Australian IMO team

Another example is Melbourne's Ramchen family. Sister Bobbi (left) and brother Lev (right) are shown with father Vic Ramchen at the 2000 AMC presentation in Melbourne, where they both won medals. Lev, the eldest, went within an ace of making the IMO team. Bobbi won a Bronze Medal for Australia at the 2001 IMO in Washington when she was just a Year 10 student. The remaining member of the family, younger brother Kim, made the 2005 IMO in Mexico and also won a Bronze Medal.

A unique combination is also of Canberra brothers William and Peter Hawkins. William won a Bronze and Silver Medal at IMO, while Peter won two Bronze Medals at IOI.

Another combination was Sydney first cousins Gareth (an Honourable Mention) and Graham White (an Honourable Mention, Bronze and Silver Medal).

The two Melbourne Calegari brothers were both selected in IMO teams. Daniel was selected for 1989, but had to withdraw for personal reasons and did not compete. He later became a very significant mathematician based in the US. Frank was in the 1992 and 1993 teams, winning Bronze and Silver, and for a few years after was very strongly associated with the training of later teams before also basing himself in the US.

Maybe the most remarkable family story though is of the Hobart Holloways. Daniel Holloway won a medal in the second AMC in 1979. In the following year his twin brother Damien won one instead. Fittingly, in 2004, the first time an AMC national presentation was held in Hobart, Jet Holloway won a medal. Jet is a son of Damien, making him the first second-generation medallist, and to boot one generation being twin brothers. Above are shown Damien, Jet and me at this event.

There is not a second-generation Olympiad team member yet but there have been three husband and wife combinations who have won the BH Neumann Award during the period (George and Ester Szekeres, from Sydney, in 1993, Neil (1992) and Sheila (2002) Williams, from Brisbane, and Lucho and Elena Stoyanov, from Perth in 2009). Furthermore, I am proud to say, my elder son Gregory, a foundation member of the AMC Primary Problems Committee, was announced in 2012 as a BH Neumann winner for 2013, making him the first second-generation winner. Shown at the later presentation are myself, Gregory's partner Nicki, Gregory, younger son Benjamin (a rather mathematical engineer living in Sydney) and his wife Sarah.

Bernhard Neumann and his cycling

It is legendary that Bernhard Neumann was a keen cyclist. The AMC made a film in 1983 which indeed shows Bernhard cycling around the CCAE campus. He cycled everywhere imaginable. There was an Applied Maths conference at Bundenoon. Bernhard rode his bike to it up the Hume Highway from Canberra.

One of the reasons the AMT Advisory Committee was always scheduled for a 1430 start rather than 1500, which is used for the Board, was that Bernhard was a member of the Advisory Committee, representing the Canberra Mathematical Association, one of the important organisations responsible for founding the AMC. Bernhard insisted that he needed an extra half hour at the end of the day to give him a better chance of riding home from Bruce in daylight.

After one such meeting, held in those days at the University of Canberra Council Room, we were to have dinner at a French restaurant, le Rustique, in Garema Place. In those days the French Embassy had a strong interest in the AMC, which was new, and translated into French, and we knew this restaurant was popular with their Cultural Counsellor.

Bernhard put on his helmet in the Council Room, went to his bike and said he would see us there. To get to my car I had to walk across the CCAE main oval, as I normally parked my car over there near the gym.

I walked across the oval and started the 7km drive to the city. At some point on Belconnen Way I passed Bernhard on his bike and wondered how long it would take for him to arrive. It was a Friday evening, and in those days we had to find a park in the large ground level Civic park, which bordered out to Cooyong Street. The land is now built over by the Canberra Centre, the main shopping Mall in the city. It was Friday night shopping, but I eventually found a park and wandered to the restaurant.

I was only the second to arrive. As I approached the front door, there was a beaming Bernhard, just removing his helmet and locking his bike.

Bernhard was a legend on his bike around the city. Normally after work at the ANU Bernhard would ride home over the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge, using his rights to the left hand lane. Bernhard was such a treasured citizen of the city that once sighted the taxis would place an alert out for him on their radio, to ensure special care when crossing the bridge.

Bernhard Neumann and bushwalking

My good friend John Campbell, a Senior Lecturer in Computing at the CCAE but also a PhD in Pure Mathematics, often used to stay at the CCAE's Jervis Bay Field Station, where Lois and I and our children would also often stay for Christmas and Easter breaks and some other times.

John was an avid bushwalker and often we would climb the nearby Pigeonhouse Mountain, a unique structure, probably described by geologists as an ancient volcanic plug, and the highlight of the climb involved a ladder to help get up a large vertical cliff near the top. At the top there are also beautiful panoramic vistas of the Budawang Mountains around.

Here John embarks on one of his climbs from the car park below.

Here are John and I at the top after a climb in 1988, with my son Gregory, who later became a member of the AMC Problems Committee for the primary papers, and is referred to above as a later BH Neumann winner.

John climbed it many other times with other people, often as a day trip from Canberra. On one occasion he was taking an ANU mathematician visitor up the mountain. While on the way up he explained that Bernhard Neumann, who was a mutual friend, often climbed the mountain also, as part of his bushwalking interest.

They reached the ladder, but had to wait as another intrepid climber was on his way down. Guess who it was?

The kangourou

In 1991, Andre Deledicq and Jean-Pierre Boudine set up a new competition, named the kangourou in honour of our own successful Australian Competition. It quickly spread through Europe, and is now on various other continents. I regard it as the world's largest competition, although some recognise a larger event in Brazil, which is compulsory for the whole population. The main part, for years 7 to 10 started with the AMC format, 30 problems, problems worth 3, 4 or 5 points, penalty for wrong response, 75 minutes, and still has the same untouched formula today. There are differences. There is a common problems committee which agrees on a paper at an annual meeting, but the members take the paper, do their own translations and moderations, and have completely independent organisation in each country. There are sometimes small differences between the papers in each country as a result. Each country simply decides its own results and prize structure, so there is no central processing as in Australia. It may be that the Australian competition, centrally processed, is bigger than the kangourou in most countries, probably not all.

A 2001 picture of André Deledicq and his son Jean-Christophe in their native Toulouse.

Other than that it probably gives the best flavour if I reproduce the article I wrote after participating in the kangourou problems committee meeting in Paris in 1995. This article appeared in the very first Globe.

MATH EN FRANCE

French, and, indeed European, mathematics has a lively organisation creating challenge for high school students based on the Australian Mathematics Competition. These are my conclusions after a trip to France which I recently undertook.

On 21 December I received an invitation to attend a significant meeting of the Kangourou organisation in France, to be held over the period 13-16 January. The Kangourou people cited the special relation the have with us, having based their competition on the philosophy of the Australian Mathematics Competition. They also wished to discuss ways in which they could preserve the memory of Peter O'Halloran and wished to discuss possible joint ventures.

Whereas I knew Claude Deschamps well, I was quite unfamiliar with the structure of the Kangourou organisation. I had rejected an invitation to attend another meeting in Budapest just two months before, presumably of a branch of the organisation. As the AMC currently has its 1995 paper being translated into French in Lyon, accepting the invitation would also give me a chance to work with the translators and visit, for the first time, the interesting institution at which the translation takes place.

The Kangourou organisation is indeed complex and in four years has grown to the stage of having greater absolute size than ours (although nowhere near the same relative coverage of the available population. It is expected that 800,000 European students entered one of the Kangourou competitions in 1994

Whereas Claude Deschamps is the external face of the Kangourou, internally the competition runs almost as three different competitions. At the primary level is the Petit Debrouillards. The latter word did not translate easily for them into English. Each time I asked I obtained a grim response with a story that it was like trying to start a broken-down car in the desert when all you had at your disposal was a spoon. In fact one person even telephoned a colleague in Montreal while I was talking to him but he had no luck there either. But the word in English is resourcefulness. This event is organised by Jean-Pierre Boudine, one of the two co-founders of the Kangourou and co-owners of the Kangourou name.

Jean-Pierre is also secretary of the senior competition Maths pour Tous. That competition is for senior secondary and junior university students. Its President is Christian Mauduit of Marseilles, who some Australians met in Pravetz in 1994. Christian was in Paris, and he and I were able to renew our acquaintance during the weekend, although he did not attend the formal meetings.

The largest part of the Kangourou is the benjamins/cadets section (corresponding to our Years 7 to 10). The name benjamins is rather cute (it is common apparently for the youngest child in a French family to be called Benjamin and be affectionately be known as Benjamin Bunny) but is gradually being disposed of. The cadet section, which alone accounts for about 500,000 entries, yielding entry fees at 10 francs (about $2.50) is led by André Deledique, a high profile figure in French mathematics and the other co-founder of the Kangourou and co-owner of the name.

The meeting took place in Lycée Louis le Grand (Louis XIV), the premier school in the country, certainly for students going on to science and engineering. The school is situated directly opposite the University of Paris, Sorbonne. Its Headmaster received us in his study and reeled off a list of names of students who had been taught by the school. I recall the names of Robespierre, Poincare and Jacques Chirac (although to the amusement of several he was quick to qualify the latter as having not won any of the school's prizes). Claude Deschamps is a Professor at this Lycée.

It is easy to name-drop in Paris. The main social function was held at the Cafe Procope, claimed to be the oldest in the world, which had apparently been the favourite haunt of Benjamin Franklin (while unsuccessfully negotiating between Louis XVI and his opponents), Voltaire, Robespierre, d'Alembert and others.

The conference was attended by five French mathematicians, and a number of mathematicians from other European countries, many well-known to Australians. These included Tony Gardiner from England, Fransisco Bellot-Rosado from Spain, Valeriu Gutu from Moldova, Roberto Dvornicich from Italy, Jan Donkers from Holland, Darjo Felda from Slovenia, Mark Bashnokov from Russia (St Petersburg), Parvel Jarek from Poland and Charles Leytem from Luxembourg.

The standard part of the agenda was to consider questions submitted by various countries for the cadet paper to be held in March. In some ways the process was similar to that of the AMC Problems Committee. However it did not go into the same detail that we do. Delegates return to their country, make their own translations, and we were also allowed to replace up to 6 questions, depending on local factors. The standard paper as set, however was quite similar to that of a Junior or Intermediate AMC paper.

The special business of the weekend was to found a new organisation. It seems that even the Euro-Kangourou has undue constraints. The organisers wish to venture further afield to areas such as Francophone Africa. The new organisation is to be known as Kangourou sans frontieres - maths pour tous, with the second half of the title allowed to be in local languages. All members present at the meeting, including myself, are listed as founders of the organisation, replacing the previous structure.

There will be a central committee of five, with Claude Deschamps as President, and representatives from England, Netherlands, Hungary and Poland. Every country will be able to participate, charge its own entry fees, maintain its finances, award its own prizes, but if its income is above a threshold it must forward 1% of entry fees to the Central Committee. A Charter and set of Statutes was also approved.

What joint ventures between the Australian Mathematics Trust and Kangourou sans frontieres are possible? We could run the event, but it is not at a convenient southern hemisphere time. There did not appear to be any concept of a sponsor. Prizes were taken from the entry fees. The procedures for setting the Kangourou are established - there is no role for our paper. Prizes in Europe, France particularly, tend to take the form of international travel. They would like exchanges of students. They know that we do not have such prizes, but we have hosted their students in Australia in the past. Fundamentally, I think they want to maintain their association with us and the World Federation. Both organisations are embedded in their Charter and are the only ones so mentioned.

The matter of remembering Peter O'Halloran was mentioned at some length. The main outcome is that a session of seminars in memory of Peter will be held at ICME, Seville, in 1996. Francisco Bellot-Rosado, who was present, is also the competitions sessions convenor for Seville and interface with the conference organisers, and he has undertaken to approach them to schedule the seminars.

A ine-hour television documentary is being prepared for French television and the cameras were active during the weekend. I was interviewed at length on the history and philosophy of the Australian competition.

Calculators in France are used as a tool, but national policy recognises that there are times when they are not used when students are beiing assessed. The Kangourou is explicitly calculator-free and there is no political pressure to introduce them.

The Mathematics Ashes

I first met Geoff Smith, who became the British IMO team leader, probably in Washington in 2001. He had become leader by 2002, when it was held in Glasgow. Geoff and I became good friends, and I feel he is one of the best raconteurs I have seen, and his writing matches or exceeds the ability of professional writers such as say Bill Bryson, who also likes yarns in similar style. The 2007 IMO had been a quiet affair in retreat as the Vietnamese had locked us in a hotel, closed off all communications and surrounded our hotel by a battalion of the Vietnamese army, not to protect us as such, but to make sure we did not escape. So the bar was a popular place. One evening over a beer I offered Geoff a trophy for an annual competition between the Australians and the British team, and I was happy that he accepted.

The deal became stronger than that. It was further agreed that the two teams would always train together during the week before IMO and the match held there. If for some reason the joint camp was to be too difficult to hold, we would simply use the IMO scores. For my part of the bargain I went to a local Canberra funeral director and purchased a real ashes urn and the idea was that the first losing team would burn their exam scripts and we would seal the urn for perpetuity.

In the first year, 2008, IMO was in Madrid and the training camp was in Portugal, where Australia won the original contest. In my remaining four years, however, Britain won three and one was tied. Here is the 2008 report on the inaugural mathematics ashes.

Australia takes Mathematics Ashes

Australia has taken the Mathematics Ashes (see story below) for competition at mathematics between Australian and United Kingdom High School students.

Teams of both countries were training together in Lisbon before the International Mathematical Olympiad being held this week in Madrid. Their final training exam was the official one for the new competition to be conducted annually. Later this week the United Kingdom scripts will be burned and permanently sealed in a funeral urn to be held by the winning team.

In the spirit of their cricket counterparts, this was an even team performance, with all students solving problem 1 and a number solving problem 2. Sampson Wong continued his form with geometry, solving problem 3. Sampson has now solved all geometry problems set in training this year, including all shortlisted geometry problems from the 2007 International Mathematical Olympiad.

The Australian win was relatively comfortable, with a final score of 72 points as against 55 scored by the United Kingdom.

British students burn their unsuccessful scripts before they are sealed in the perpetual urn.

The successful Australian team, from left Irene Lo, Max Menzies, Paul Cheung, Sampson Wong, Andrew Elvey Price and Giles Gardam.

Peter Taylor, Geoff Smith and Australian Team Leader Angelo Di Pasquale after the presentation.

Australian scores were:

Mathematics Ashes established for competition between Australia and United Kingdom

An urn has been donated for the purpose of being a perpetual trophy in mathematics competitions between Australia and the United Kingdom.

The Australian and United Kingdom Mathematics Trusts have combined on a number of projects in recent years, in cross-promoting publications and in producing the international journal Mathematics Competitions and last year the two countries' International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) teams trained together in Sydney before participating in the IMO in Vietnam.

This year the two teams will train together in Lisbon before participating in the IMO in Madrid, between 10 and 22 July. Australian Mathematics Trust Executive Director Peter Taylor has donated the urn for perpetual competition, the first of which will be held on the final day of the training camp in Lisbon.

The urn is a genuine 6.5in funeral urn purchased from a funeral parlour in Canberra. At a ceremony in Madrid the scripts of the losing team will be burned and the ashes sealed permanently inside the urn. The urn will be retained by the winning team.

At a function in Melbourne on Friday 13 June Taylor presented the urn to Australian Team Leader Dr Angelo Di Pasquale (above) for taking to Lisbon.

The aim is for the teams to train together before IMOs where feasible, and compete for the Mathematics Ashes on the last day. In years when this is not feasible the Ashes will be decided by the Australian and United Kingdom team scores at the IMO itself.

Taylor has also donated a cup, which will be retained by the Team Leader of the winning team between competitions.

Who would have won this event in the past?

The IMO has a history dating back to 1959, when it was first held in Romania. In fact for many years the event was substantially the domain of the Eastern European Socialist bloc. Despite this United Kingdom entered from quite an early time, participating in fact from 1967. During this time until 1981, when Australia first entered, the event remained relatively small, but United Kingdom was very successful, having a number of top 5 positions, coming 2nd in fact in 1977.

After 1981, when there were still just 27 countries, the event grew to 49 countries when Australia hosted the event in 1988. After the emergence of many new countries in the early 1990s, and the entry of most Latin American countries since Argentina hosted in 1997, the event has changed some character and grown to a record 93 countries in 2007.

United Kingdom would have easily retained the Ashes throughout the 1980s but since then there has been more of a contest, as the table below shows. Australia would have won for the first time in 1993, and then all years from 1997 (when Australia recorded its only top 10 placing) until 2002.

Past Scores

Winning country in blue, country followed by points and placing. Note that a student's score has always been out of a total of 42 (6 problems each worth 7 points) there were 8 to a team until 1981, 4 in 1982 and 6 per team since 1983.