Mexican students excel at prestigious International Mathematics Competition

Mathematics students of the National Autonomous University of Mexico won one gold and two bronze medals for their participation at the International Mathematics Competition that took place online.

Led by School of Sciences profesor Luis Eduardo García Hernández and guided by Leonardo Ignacio Martínez Sandoval, students José Ramón Tuirán Rangel, Oriol Andreu Sole Pi, and Armando Benjamín Cruz Hinojosa were recognized with a gold medal and two bronze medals correspondingly.

The competition organized by University College London took place online and had the participation of 546 students from over 100 universities. Participants performed tests that consisted of solving eight problems in two 4-hour-long sessions.

“In previous contests, the test consisted of 10 questions to be solved in two days,” asserted Martínez Sandoval from the Committee of Problems Selection for the competition.

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Moreover, he explained that the competition , which has taken place for 27 years, has a higher percentage of Asian students compared to American students.

Eighth-semester student José Ramón Tuirán, who won a bronze medal in 2017 and a silver medal in 2018, remembers that previous editions of the competition required to solve five problems in five hours, “but now the number of exercises and time have been reduced.”

Likewise, García Hernández admitted this year’s tests were much more difficult than previous editions. Nevertheless, he said “there is less pressure at home, you feel calmer because you can also avoid a 20-hour long journey,” he added.

For his part, student Orio Andreu Sole Pi mentioned Internet access allowed them to get prepared remotely without great problems since being able to check similar exercises and the variety of online books eased the preparation process for the contest.

“It was a great experience for me; since I began the degree, I was hoping to participate because it was a big challenge for me. Having won a medal is a great achievement, and it is significant for the UNAM because it shows it produces mathematicians that are able to solve the kind of problems they posed,” said Armando Cruz.

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