'Mathletes' in training: Top high school students attend U of T summer camp to prepare for national math Olympiad
If there were a Rocky-style training montage for the 重口味SM's math camp, it might involve blackboard problems in circle geometry, inequalities and modular arithmetic.
The students aren't breaking a sweat, but make no mistake: They are training hard.
About two dozen of the country's top mathletes in Grades 8 to 10 have come to the 重口味SM this week to hone their abilities ahead of national math Olympiads starting this fall.
The in November, which is open to all high school students interested in math, is the first step toward harder and more selective national and international contests.
Many of the students chosen to attend U of T鈥檚 camp have shown their math mettle by scoring high on past exams, their instructor Zack Wolske says. Back at their high schools, most of the students are far ahead of their peers, Wolske adds. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e probably bored.鈥
Wolske, a post-doctoral researcher in the department of mathematics, is coaching the students during the week-long camp, helping them solve problems like those they might face on exam day.
Some of the questions are so difficult, Wolske says, they could stump some of his first-year university students.
Post-doctoral researcher Zack Wolske writes problems on the blackboard at the Bahen Centre for Information Technology (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)
But the teenagers often surpass their teacher鈥檚 expectations.
鈥淭he students are very clever,鈥 Wolske says, in between scribbling geometry problems on a blackboard at the Bahen Centre for Information Technology. 鈥淭hey show me fascinating things. I have solved a bunch of these problems and seen solutions to them and then they still have new ones.鈥
The top 50 students who write the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge, and another few dozen who write a different qualifying exam, are eligible to compete in the Canadian Math Olympiad, the equivalent of nationals for high school math students.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the highest-level high school math contest in Canada,鈥 Wolske says.
Those who do well earn a ticket to the world championships, the International Math Olympiad, which is hosted in a different city each year. In the summer of 2020, it will be in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The national Olympiad includes just five questions, ranging in difficulty. 鈥淪ometimes they can be very hard and sometimes you have an insight and then they鈥檙e fast,鈥 Wolske says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 often a key thing to note and if you get it, you can write a short pretty solution. But if you don鈥檛, you might struggle for a long time.鈥
The contest exposes students to more advanced problem-solving, requiring proofs and detailed analysis 鈥 challenges they might not encounter until later in their education, he adds.
With a little luck and plenty of work, the mathletes may be able to secure a place at the international Olympiad and compete against high school students from around the globe. Canada finished 24th of 112 countries in this year鈥檚 Olympiad, held in Bath, England earlier this July.
Jacob Tsimerman, a U of T associate professor in the math department, says he was 鈥渋ncredibly proud of our team鈥檚 brilliant performance.鈥
鈥淭he IMO is the apex of competitive mathematics at the high school level,鈥 he adds in a release, 鈥渁nd our students have represented our country incredibly well.鈥
Tsimerman coached Olympiad hall-of-famer Alex Song, the Waterloo, Ont.-native
Whether or not they're able to match Song鈥檚 success, many of the 26 mathletes at U of T's camp say they enjoy meeting like-minded students from across the country and solving mind-boggling problems together.
Orelia Pi from Toronto (pictured left), who is going into Grade 10, says she was drawn to math because 鈥渋t鈥檚 kind of like a puzzle.鈥
鈥淎lso the feeling you get when you finish a problem,鈥 she added. 鈥淵ou feel good for taking the time to solve it.鈥
Supreet Randhawa, an outreach administrator in the department of mathematics, says the camp makes an effort to recruit more girls, recognizing the need to boost their numbers in math as in other STEM fields.
Pi says she feels she might help change attitudes by attending the camp. 鈥淢aybe some guys don鈥檛 realize there are girls who are good at math,鈥 she says, adding that she might help change people's minds by answering problems in class.
Some of the mathletes say it鈥檚 refreshing to meet students who are as excited about math as they are. Michael Liudeng, a student from Vaughan who will be in Grade 10 in September, says there鈥檚 a 鈥渟tigma鈥 around enjoying math and excelling at it. 鈥淣o one says, 鈥業鈥檓 really bad at reading,鈥 but people can say 鈥業鈥檓 really bad at math鈥 and it鈥檚 like a funny thing,鈥 he says.
Success in math comes from practice and concentration, he says. 鈥淥ften it鈥檚 about putting your mind to something you鈥檙e not the best at.鈥
Jennifer Wang, a Toronto mathlete entering Grade 11 this fall, says the key to her math prowess is perseverance. 鈥淵ou have to keep working at the problem although it鈥檚 really easy to give up,鈥 she says.