The 60th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), held from July 11-22, 2019 at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, brought together the brightest young minds from around the world, and Mexico’s team brought home four medals and two Honorable Mentions.
The IMO is the largest and most prestigious of all of the international olympiads, having grown from the original seven countries n 1959 to 112 participating countries in 2019. And, thanks to Mexican film maker Guillermo del Toro, who bought the team’s plane tickets, Mexico was among them.
For the talented young students who participated in the 2019 IMO, this unique event represented the culmination of many years of mathematical endeavour and hundreds of attempts at solving problems.
The competition involved teams of up to six contestants sitting two exams on consecutive days. Each exam lasts 4.5 hours and contained three hard problems. Contestants’ scripts were marked over the next few days with each solution (or attempt) being awarded a score out of seven. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals were awarded just less than half of the contestants in the ratio 1:2:3. Those not within the medal boundaries, but achieving full marks on at least one problem, were awarded an Honourable Mention.
According to the Mexican team’s Twitter account, Bruno Gutiérrez Chávez from Colima won a silver medal, while Ana Paula Jiménez Días and Tomas Francisco Cantú Rodríguez, both from Mexico City, and Eric Iván Hernández Palacios from Nuevo León were awarded with bronze medals.
Overall, the Mexican team won 111 points, coming in 41st place among the 112 participating countries. Congratulations to these young geniuses!Sources: imo2019.uk
