U.S. Places First at International Mathematics Competition in U.K.

WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. team tied for first place with China at the 60th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) which was held in Bath, United Kingdom on July 11-22, 2019. The six U.S. team members also won gold medals for their individual high scores on the olympiad, known as the world championship mathematics competition for high school students. The U.S. team also placed first at the IMO in 2015, 2016 and 2018.

The IMO brings together the top math students from more than 110 countries and territories to compete each year and 643 students competed this year. The winning U.S. team score was 227 out of a possible 252 points.

The 2019 U.S. International Mathematical Olympiad team is: Vincent Huang, Luke Robitaille, Colin Tang, Edward Wan, Brandon Wang, and Daniel Zhu. Huang is a returning team member from 2017 and 2018.

“The Mathematical Association of America is proud to congratulate the students who competed in the International Mathematical Olympiad for the United States of America on their first place finish in the challenging math competition,” said Michael Pearson, executive director of the Mathematical Association of America. “We are proud to organize the U.S. IMO team through the MAA American Mathematics Competitions that strengthens the nation’s mathematical problem solvers. In this competition and their future endeavors, these students will help achieve our vision of a society that values the power and beauty of mathematics and fully realizes its potential to promote human flourishing.”

Students qualify for the U.S. IMO team by participating in a series of competitions provided by the Mathematical Association of America’s competitions program, called the MAA American Mathematics Competitions (AMC). Approximately 300,000 students worldwide participate in the MAA American Mathematics Competitions each year which leads the nation in strengthening the mathematical capabilities of the next generation of problem solvers. The six U.S. team members joined 65 of their peers from the United States and seven other countries at MAA AMC’s Mathematical Olympiad Program in June to immerse themselves in problem solving and train for the IMO and other international competitions including the European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad where the U.S. team, also organized by MAA, won first place in April.

The United States of America will host the 62nd International Mathematical Olympiad in 2021 in Washington, D.C. and the Mathematical Association of America will organize the event.

The team was accompanied by leader Po-Shen Loh, associate professor of mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University, and deputy leader Yang Liu, graduate student at Stanford University.

IMO scores are based on the number of points scored by individual team members on six problems. On each day of the two-day competition, the teams have 4.5 hours to work on three problems.