European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad 2012
Ireland's Participation

News

The search for Ireland's first EGMO team will start with a problem-solving workshop at the University of Limerick on Saturday October 15. The workshop will start at 11.00 in Room A1065 in the main building. It will finish by 3.30 (with a lunch break). It will be coordinated by Dr Rachel Quinlan from NUI Galway, Dr Gordon Lessells from the University of Limerick, and Dr Mark Flanagan from UCD. If you plan to attend this event, sign up here by Friday October 14.

What is it?

The European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO) is a mathematical problem solving contest for female second level students. The first EGMO will take place in Cambridge, England, in April 2012. About 20 European countries will be represented, each by a team of up to four young mathematicians. The contest will consist of two sets of four tough problems. It will be held on April 12 and 13, with 4½ hours for each problem set. It is envisaged that the EGMO will become an annual event and will be hosted in different participating countries. EGMO 2013 will be held in Luxembourg.

Why the EGMO?

The EGMO is one of many international contests for young mathematical problem solvers. The most famous, most prestigious and most significant such contest is the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) which has been held on an (almost) annual basis since 1959. The IMO is hosted in a different country every July; IMO 2012 will take place in Argentina. The 2011 IMO in the Netherlands had 564 contestants from 101 countries. The first IMO, held in Romania in 1959, had 52 competitors from 6 countries. Ireland has participated every year since 1988. Despite the steady and dramatic increase in IMO participation over the years, the gender split amongst the competitors remains strikingly unbalanced. The proportion of female participants has never been much higher (but has been a lot lower) than at the first ever IMO in 1959, in which 6 (or 11.5%) of the 52 competitors were female. Just over 10% of the competitors at the 52nd IMO in the Netherlands in 2011 were female; this proportion is roughly typical of recent years. This 10% includes the most successful mathematical olympian ever, Lisa Sauermann of Germany. Female mathematical talent seems to be a vastly underused resource, and one goal of the EGMO is to encourage more female students to participate in mathematical problem-solving. The venture was inspired by the very successful China Girls' Mathematical Olympiad. Young mathematicians of both sexes are invited to take part in the nationwide programme of activities leading to Ireland's participation in the International Mathematical Olympiad; more details can be found here.

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The Search for Ireland's EGMO Team

Students from the senior cycle of second level (transition year and above) are invited to participate in the search for Ireland's first EGMO team. If you enjoy mathematics at school, if you enjoy mathematical or logical puzzles, if you like to find satisfying explanations of mathematical phenomena, this might be for you. The search for Ireland's 2012 EGMO team will start with a problem-solving day at the University of Limerick on Saturday October 15. You can register your interest in participating in the search by completing the form here. Please complete the form by Friday October 14 if you plan to attend the Limerick event, and by Sunday October 30 in any case. More details of the plan for October 15 will be sent by email to registered particpants on Wednesday October 12, and posted on this website on the same date.

What is involved?

Following the problem-solving day in Limerick on October 15, the search for Ireland's first EGMO team will continue with an online series of weekly problem solving activities, and another meeting for all participants around Christmas. Participation in mathematical enrichment programmes, which are offered by five Irish universities, will follow. The final stage of the selection of the team will take place in March 2012. These events will be managed by a team of volunteers who are academic mathematicians from University College Dublin, NUI Maynooth, the University of Limerick, Mary Immaculate College, University College Cork and NUI Galway. Ireland's participation in EGMO 2012 will be led by Dr Rachel Quinlan from the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Mathematics in NUI Galway, and Dr Anca Mustata from the School of Mathematical Sciences in University College Cork. If you have a specific query that is not answered on this webpage, please send it by email to egmoireland@gmail.com.