Британский математический трест: олимпиады и развитие математического образования в Великобритании.

UK charity

The United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) is a charity founded in 1996 to help with the education of children in mathematics within the UK.

The national mathematics competitions had existed prior to the formation of the trust, but the foundation of the UKMT in the summer of 1996 enabled them to be run collectively. The Senior Mathematical Challenge was formerly called the National Mathematics Contest. Founded in 1961, it was run by the Mathematical Association from 1975 until its adoption by the UKMT in 1996. The Junior and Intermediate Mathematical Challenges were the initiative of Dr Tony Gardiner in 1987 and were run by him under the name of the United Kingdom Mathematics Foundation until 1996. The popularity of the UK national mathematics competitions is largely due to the publicising efforts of Dr Gardiner in the years 1987 1995. Hence, in 1995, he advertised for the formation of a committee and for a host institution that would lead to the establishment of the UKMT, enabling the challenges to be run effectively together under one organisation.

Over 10,000 participants from the JMC are invited to participate in the Junior Kangaroo. Most of the Junior Kangaroo participants are those who performed well in the JMC, however the Junior Kangaroo is open to discretionary entries for a fee. Similar to the JMC, the Junior Kangaroo is a 60 minute challenge consisting of 25 multiple choice problems. Correct answers for Questions 1 15 earn 5 marks, and for Questions 16 25 earn 6 marks. Blank or incorrect answers are marked 0; there is no penalty for wrong answers. The top 25% of participants in the Junior Kangaroo receive a Certificate of Merit.

To prevent this getting confused with the International Mathematical Olympiad, this is often abbreviated to the IMOK Olympiad (IMOK = Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad and Kangaroo). The IMOK is sat by the top 500 scorers from each school year in the Intermediate Maths Challenge and consists of three papers, 'Cayley', 'Hamilton' and 'Maclaurin' named after famous mathematicians. The paper the student will undertake depends on the year group that student is in (Cayley for those in year 9 and below, Hamilton for year 10 and Maclaurin for year 11). Each paper contains six questions. Each solution is marked out of 10 on a 0+ and 10 scale; that is to say, if an answer is judged incomplete or unfinished, it is awarded a few marks for progress and relevant observations, whereas if it is presented as complete and correct, marks are deducted for faults, poor reasoning, or unproven assumptions. As a result, it is quite uncommon for an answer to score a middling mark (e. g. 4–6). This makes the maximum mark out of 60. For a student to get two questions fully correct is considered "very good". All people taking part in this challenge will get a certificate (participation for the bottom 50%, merit for the next 25% and distinction for the top 25%). The mark boundaries for these certificates change every year, but normally around 30 marks will gain a Distinction. Those scoring highly (the top 50) will gain a book prize; again, this changes every year, with 44 marks required in the Maclaurin paper in 2006. Also, the top 100 candidates will receive a medal; bronze for Cayley, silver for Hamilton and gold for Maclaurin.

The European Kangaroo is a competition which follows the same structure as the AMC (Australian Mathematics Competition). There are twenty five multiple choice questions and no penalty marking. This paper is taken throughout Europe by over 3 million pupils from more than 37 countries. Two different Kangaroo papers follow on from the Intermediate Maths Challenge and the next 5500 highest scorers below the Olympiad threshold are invited to take part (both papers are by invitation only). The Grey Kangaroo is sat by students in year 9 and below and the Pink Kangaroo is sat by those in years 10 and 11. The top 25% of scorers in each paper receive a certificate of merit and the rest receive a certificate of participation. All those who sit either Kangaroo also receive a keyfob containing a different mathematical puzzle each year. (The puzzles along with solutions)

Selected by lottery, 48 of the top 1.5% of scorers in the IMC are invited to participate in one of three week long National Mathematics Summer Schools in July. Each from a different school across the UK, the 24 boys and 24 girls are facilitated with a range of activities, including daily lectures, designed to go beyond the GCSE syllabus and explore wider and more challenging areas of mathematics. The UKMT aims to "promote mathematical thinking" and "provide an opportunity for participants to meet other students and adults who enjoy mathematics". They were delivered virtually during the COVID 19 pandemic but had reverted to in person events by 2022.

Round 1 of the Olympiad is a three and a half hour examination including six more difficult, long answer questions, which serve to test entrants' problem solving skills. As of 2005, a more accessible first question was added to the paper; before this, it only consisted of 5 questions. Approximately 100 highest scoring candidates from BMO1 are invited to sit the BMO2, which is the follow up round that has the same time limit as BMO1, but in which 4 harder questions are posed. The top 24 scoring students from the second round are subsequently invited to a training camp at Trinity College, Cambridge or Oundle School for the first stage of the International Mathematical Olympiad UK team selection.

The Senior Kangaroo is a one hour examination to which the next around 6000 highest scorers below the Olympiad threshold are invited. The paper consists of twenty questions, each of which require three digit answers (leading zeros are used if the answer is less than 100, since the paper is marked by machine). The top 25% of candidates receive a certificate of merit and the rest receive a certificate of participation.

For more information see British Mathematical Olympiad Subtrust. The British Mathematical Olympiad Subtrust is run by UKMT, which runs the British Mathematical Olympiad as well as the UK Mathematical Olympiad for Girls, several training camps throughout the year such as a winter camp in Hungary, an Easter camp at Trinity College, Cambridge, and other training and selection of the IMO team.