Who are the Olympians?

Our friends at SDMC provide a link to a fascinating study at the Center for Mathematics Education. The PowerPoint presentation linked below provides some interesting demographic research on accomplished problem solvers.

“Mathematical Olympians: Who are they, where are they from, and how did they get where they are?”,

The research sets out to answer the following question:

What aspects of the in-school and out of school experiences of IMO caliber students can be identified as promising for the encouragement of a broader population of students into sustained and advanced study of mathematics in secondary school and beyond?

Of particular interest is the strong role played by the family, the school, the challenge of contests and mentors (slide 15). Metroplex Math Circle attempts to bring all 4 factors together to help our students to achieve their full potential.

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Math Circles and USAMO Qualification

The San Diego Math Circle (SDMC), like our own Metroplex Math Circle, has been a leader in identifying talented young problem solvers.  On their beautifully redesigned web site, they have an interesting discussion of the impact their math circle has had on the number of USAMO qualifiers from their community.

The following chart shows the strong correlation between the rise in USAMO success and the founding of SDMC in 2002.  Click on the chart to read the rest of the page on Olympiads and Olympians.

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