A team of Portuguese high school students ranked high at the 53rd International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) held July 8-15, in Mar del Plata, Argentina. A total of 548 participants from 100 countries competed in the 2012 annual math competition.
The Portuguese team won a Gold Medal (Miguel Santos), a Silver Medal (Miguel Moreira), two Bronze Medals (Nuno Lourenço and Luís Duarte) and a Honorable Mention (Francisco Andrade). The score was the highest ever achieved by a Portuguese team at the prestigious international competition.
Contestants with a score of at least 28 points received a gold medal. Silver medals were awarded to those garnering 21-27 points, and contestants with a score of 14-20 points were awarded a bronze medal. Singapore’s Jeck Lim was the only contestant to achieve a perfect score of 42.
The team from the Republic of Korea placed first with a total score of 209, followed by the team from People’s Republic of China with a score of 195. Team USA placed third with a score of 194.
The International Mathematical Olympiad brings together the best and brightest students from around the world, challenging and stimulating their minds in the spirit of competition. Through a rigorous and demanding set of six questions, students demonstrate their mastery of mathematical concepts, as well as creativity in problem solving.
The International Mathematical Olympiad is the World Championship Mathematics Contest for second level students. Each country is invited to send a team of up to six students to compete in this contest.
The first IMO was held in 1959 in Romania, with 7 countries participating. It has gradually expanded to over 100 countries from 5 continents. Next year’s event will be held in Santa Marta, Colombia.
Individual and country results are available here.
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