Math Olympiads
Published on January 9th, 2025
Here in Brazil we have a huge culture sorrounding mathematical olympiads because of OBMEP. This is a test organized by IMPA, the Institute of Pure and Applied Maths of Brazil, who is the "home" of notable people such as Artur Avila, who won the Fields Medal in 2014. This olympiad was a way to make more people start studying mathematics and trying to bringing the subject into people's life.
The numbers of it are really big, with usually 18-20 million anual participants annually, making this by far the biggest mathematics olympiad in the world. It serves as an entry point to OBM, that is the final step before the IMO for Brazilian students. Getting a prize on it is hard, with only a few hundreds getting the gold medal, the greatest prize on the competition. This olympiad was what popularized the model of competitions in Brazil with now almost every state having its own and also other competitions being created.
Usually, math olympiads involve harder problems in areas students see in school normally, especially mechanical problems, with only a few olympiads covering demonstrations, for example. To be honest, I don't see any problems with mechanical problems, however I think these competitions depict what is mathematics in a wrong way.
It is common to see in the sciences a lot of competition, what is awful and just creates a more hostile community that gets more and more isolated from society, making science underplayed. As a consequence of this kind of competition, many put the idea that they should always be the best or that sciences involve superiority, what is a lie. Mathematics is about mathematics, afterall, not about who collects more prizes and honors. Yes, you get recognition from your work and that's awesome, but if you work only for recognition the sciences in general aren't your deal.
Obviously, mathematical olympiads are a awesome way of getting into the science, as I've stated previously this was how I firstly fell in love with the subject. They also can bring a lot of opportunities. I, for instance, was able to spend time in my state's university maths' departament and there I met many people who certainly impacted on me. Simple things such as someone explaining me partial derivatives (I was starting multivariable calculus at the time and a math major helped me in getting the idea behind them) to getting carrer advice in the area.
Still, I think we should try new practices in order to stimulate mathematics in society, especially for young people. Math is everywere, it has always been. Charles Darwin once said those who knew mathematics appeared to have an extra sense, so developing mathematics is a kind of freeing act, in my opinion. By it, you discover a new reality, or multiple of those. Thus, you start seeing beauty everywhere, how even simple things are actualy just a shell for complex mechanisms that consist in the world we live in.