École Polytechnique in force at the 2021 International Mathematics Competition

Three teams of students from École Polytechnique participated in the International Mathematics Competition (IMC), open to university-level students, aged 23 years or less, of all nationalities. It took place online from August 2nd to 8th.

Organized by University College London, the 2021 edition of the IMC included two days of actual competition on August 3rd and 4th, during which the participants, evaluated as individuals, solved eight mathematical problems, four per day. The problems covered algebra, Analysis, Geometry, and Combinatorics.

The Polytechnic A team made up of Aymen Echarghaoui, Cheng-Yen Wu, Issam Tauil, and Dimitri Korkotashvili ranked 17th out of the 113 teams involved in the competition with a score of 150.75 points.

The B team involving Bruno Costa Alves Freire, Mateus Siqueira Thimoteo, Fabiano Menezes e Souza, Danilo Morinho Fernandes, and Caio Jordan Di Pedro Azevedo obtained a score of 118 points, ranking 29th.

The C team bringing together Mehdi Makni, Ghadi Nehme, Yi Yao Tan, and Amanuel Oli finished tied for 72nd with University College London with a score of 58.75 points.

Five gold, two silver, and three bronze medals

Of the twelve participants from École Polytechnique, five won a gold medal (first prize): Bruno Costa Alves Freire with an individual score of 41 points, Aymen Echarghaoui (40 points), Chen-Yen Wu (39 points), Issam Tauil (36 points), and Mateus Siqueira Thimoteo (30 points).

Two of them received a silver medal (second prize): Dimitri Korkotashvili (28 points) and Mehdi Makni (25 points).

The bronze (third prize) was awarded to Ghadi Nehme, Danilo Marinho Fernandes (16 points each), and Caio Jordan Di Pedro Azevedo (10 points).

The three teams were selected and coached by Omid Amini, Lecturer at l’X, Researcher at the CNRS, and member of the Laurent Schwartz Mathematics Center (CMLS)*, who supervised the students' work and ensured the fairness of the tests.

Omid Amini led a Math Club at École Polytechnique, first online and then in person throughout the year. One of the purposes of the Math Club was to prepare its members for the IMC. The three teams were selected among the club's participants. 

"It was the first experience of this kind," he said. "Beyond the results of this competition, the students were clearly delighted to be able to meet every week to do math together as a complement to the programs offered in the Bachelor's and Engineering Cycle courses at the school in a less formal setting, to be able to engage in direct discussions with their professor on various subjects, and especially to think and exchange ideas on challenging math problems," he added.

Omid Amini hopes that this first successful experience of a Math Club at École Polytechnique will continue.

*CMLS: a joint research unit CNRS, École Polytechnique – Institut Polytechnique de Paris