TEHRAN - The 17th edition of the ‘A-lympiad’ International Math Competition (IMC) will be held in Iran on December 1.

The A-lympiad is a mathematical competition for teams of 3 or 4 students. It is one of the three whole-day events that are organized by the Freudenthal Institute of Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

A-lympiad is one of the global math competitions that is held in 15 countries, including Iran.

The main objectives of this competition are to improve thinking ability, practice techniques of mathematical modeling, team cooperation, practice how to write down scientific processes and findings, and finally how to present all that is done.

Following the cooperation agreement between the Freudenthal Institute and Isfahan Mathematic House (IMH), the A-lympiad competition will be held in some cities of the country namely Isfahan, Tehran, Khomein, Zanjan, Yazd, Behshahr, Babol, Borujen, and Iranshahr, " IRNA reported.

The participating students are in ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade, interested students can participate in this event in groups of three or four.

The competition will be held in 2 rounds, the qualifying preliminary round with about 1000 teams of students competing a day long at their own schools, and an international final in which 16 teams compete during a whole weekend in a central place in the Netherlands on a different assignment.

The teams work on an assignment – a very open-ended problem situation – in which mathematical problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills must be used to solve a real-world problem.

The questions of the competition are about real and everyday life issues such as traffic or the distribution of water resources, and skills such as effective reading, dynamic and creative thinking, the use of mathematical modeling of problems, teamwork, and structured and effective writing are very important for students in this competition.

The questions of this competition are received and translated by Isfahan Mathematics House and then sent to other host cities.

The answer sheets of the participating teams are corrected and the best answers are sent to the House of Mathematics in the cities where the competition is set, and then in Isfahan after the final correction, the best teams are selected and introduced.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s top teams were sent to the Netherlands every year to participate in the final stage of the "A-lympiad" competition, but after the coronavirus outbreak, due to the increase in costs, the teams couldn’t go to the Netherlands.

Holding these competitions shows students the applicability of mathematics and increases their creativity.

In the 16th A-lympiad competition, which was held last December in seven cities of Iran, 150 groups, including 99 groups of girls and 51 groups of boys, each with three contestants, participated.

IMH History

The first mathematics house was established in Isfahan through the cooperation of some Iranian school teachers and university faculties in 1999. Currently, there are more than 30 mathematics houses across the country.

 Mathematics House is an innovative learning center focused on mathematics and informatics education but in a non-curricular way.

It is a place for experimental learning through workshops and projects, and subsequent reflection in showcases and mathematics festivals. One prominent example is Isfahan Mathematics House, a center of excellence as a learning environment.

Mathematics Houses have six main goals: popularizing mathematics; investigating the history of mathematics; investigating the applications of mathematics, statistics, and computer sciences; developing information technology; expanding mathematical sciences among young students; and promoting teamwork among young students and teachers.

MT/MG