From left: Chan Joshua Juan Yin (Honourable Mention), Tan Shao Zhe (Third Prize), Camille Mau, Phan Huu An (Grand First Prize), Professor John E. Jayne (IMC President), Zeng Ruixiao (First Prize) and Lee Dongheng (Certificate). Photo credit -Chan Joshua Juan Yin
Undergraduates from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have achieved their best ever performance at the 2023 International Mathematics Competition (IMC).
Phan Huu An, a second-year student majoring in Mathematics and Computer Science at NTU’s School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS), received a Grand First Prize, the first in the history of NTU’s participation in the IMC. Zeng Ruixiao, from NTU’s School of Computer Science and Engineering, received a First Prize. The rest of the NTU contingent consisted of Tan Shao Zhe, who received a Third Prize, Joshua Chan Juan Yin, who received an Honourable Mention, and Lee Dongheng, who received a Certificate.
The International Mathematics Competition (IMC), organised annually by University College London, brings together young mathematicians from around the world for a week of intense competition and exploration of mathematics. This year, it was hosted at the American University in Bulgaria from July 31 to August 6.
For Phan Huu An, who won the Grand First Prize, his IMC journey began when he received a scholarship to NTU after graduating from HUS High School for Gifted Students in Vietnam. Throughout the first two years of his undergraduate studies, he practiced past IMC problems with the support of Dr Fedor Duzhin, a Senior Lecturer at SPMS and team leader of NTU’s IMC contingent, and Ms Camille Mau, a PhD student at SPMS and deputy leader of the team.
“The 5 hours on the second day of the test was the hardest mathematics test I have had,” says Huu An. “Still, I believed in my strategy focusing on the problems that I have the ability to solve and avoiding spending time on problems that I do not have any knowledge about.”
In the future, Hu Ann hopes to pursue higher studies in mathematics, and to work as a mathematics researcher. “But at the moment, I just try to do my best to get good grades in school, and explore different mathematics fields to develop my research interests,” he says.
Congratulations to the entire NTU IMC team!