Mathletes Receive €1M Donation from Google
Internet giant Google made a 1 million Euro charitable gift to the International Mathematical Olympiad.
Google yesterday announced it has made a charitable gift of €1 million to the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), an annual world championship mathematics competition for high school students.
The donation is intended to help cover the costs of the next five global events beginning this year through 2015.
"Maths is very important to Google. It's the basis of everything we do: from the algorithms that deliver answers to your search queries, to the way in which your Gmails are grouped in conversations, to the technology advances which are enabling us to develop driverless cars," Simon Hampton, director of public policy at Google, wrote in a blog post. "We're delighted that we can help the IMO bring young mathematicians from around the world together to celebrate a shared passion, to push themselves and to compete to be the best in the world," he added. Hampton himself holds a BSc in Maths.
The actual contest takes two sessions of 4 hours 30 minutes each, wherein the matheletes try to solve three math problems in up to two languages of their choice. Contestants are only allowed to use paper, pens, pencils, erasers, a ruler, and a compass.
The first IMO was held in 1959 in Romania, with students from seven countries participating. It has gradually expanded to embrace students from the world over with more than 100 countries now represented. The organization has its own flag (it's the same as its logo) and an official hymn [MP3].
The 2011 competition, which will be the 52nd annual IMO, will take place in Amsterdam July 16-24, 2011.