Welcome to the British Mathematical Olympiad

• A PDF file containing lots of BMO problems from the past (1993–2020). No answers are supplied! Hints and solutions for BMO1 problems from 1996–1997 to 2010–2011 are included in A Mathematical Olympiad Primer, available from the UKMT, while BMO2 solutions are included in A Mathematical Olympiad Companion, available from the UKMT; video solutions for BMO1 are available from 2005–2006 onwards.
• Information about the BMO papers and notes on BMO marking (PDF)
• The Christopher Bradley elegance prize
• The UK Mathematical Olympiad for Girls (UK MOG)
• A brief article on areal co-ordinate methods in Euclidean geometry (PDF), by Tom Lovering
• National events: events calendar, UK Olympiad Training; the annual IMO Lecture and Celebration
• International events, including reports on each year’s events: the International Mathematical Olympiad, the Balkan Mathematical Olympiad, the Romanian Master of Mathematics, the China Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad, the European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad, the Mathematics Ashes
• BMOS and UKMT supporters may elect to make a small tax efficient regular donation to these organizations.
• Committee information: a short history of the BMOC, list of current committee members; list of other people involved in BMOS activities
• BMO policies on use of BMO1 DVDs and on eligibility
• Contact details
• Past news and events

EGMO results (21 April 2020)

The UK team in the ninth European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad have achieved the following results, coming 5th out of 53 participating teams (4th out of 39 official European teams). The medal boundaries are 26 for gold, 18 for silver and 11 for bronze.

European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad problems (18 April 2020)

The problems (day 1, day 2) from the ninth European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad, held as a virtual competition because of the COVID-19 pandemic, are now available. The problems were submitted by Australia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and Denmark, respectively; problem 5 is by Agnijo Banerjee.

IMO training and selection camp cancelled (16 March 2020)

The Cambridge IMO camp, scheduled for 31 March to 5 April, has been cancelled, as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 situation. Obviously this is a great shame for the invited students and the volunteer staff. Our thoughts are also with all students, volunteers and their families who might be facing challenges or uncertainty this week and over the coming period. BMO will be in touch with affected students as and when it becomes more clear what form IMO programme activities can reasonably take for the rest of this academic year.

IMO training and selection camp and COVID-19 (11 March 2020)

The UK IMO training and selection camp is scheduled to be held at Trinity College, Cambridge, 31 March–5 April. The UKMT is keeping the situation and government advice under continuous review, and liaising with Trinity College. We will update students and parents as soon as possible if changes to the camp become necessary. We are working on contingency plans for some of the camp programme, including selection tests, to be delivered remotely.

Romanian Master of Mathematics results (1 March 2020)

The UK participants in the Romanian Master of Mathematics competition have achieved the following results, coming 5th out of 19 teams in the team competition. The medal boundaries are 29 for gold, 24 for silver and 18 for bronze. Problem 2, a UK submission, is by Dominic Yeo.

EGMO 2020 team (13 February 2020)

The 9th European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad will be held in Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands, 15–21 April. The UK team will be:

The reserve is Shuqi Huang of Westminster School. The Team Leader is Jenny Owladi of the Bank of England and the Deputy Leader is Kasia Warburton of Trinity College, Cambridge.

BMO Round 2 high scores (12 February 2020)

BMO Round 2 was marked in London on 8 February. The following candidates scored 25 or more out of 40.

BMO Round 2 (31 January 2020)

This year’s BMO Round 2 paper was taken yesterday. The problems were by Sam Maltby, Sam Bealing, Dominic Yeo and Jeremy King, respectively.

IMO 2019 lecture video available (16 January 2020)

Video of Jeremy King’s IMO lecture at Central Hall Westminster is now available.

BMO Round 1 markers’ report (11 January 2020)

The markers’ report on BMO1, with discussions of different approaches to the problems, is now available.

Walter Hayman (8 January 2020)

Professor Walter Hayman FRS, who co-founded the British Mathematical Olympiad together with his late wife Margaret, has died on 1 January. For more information on his career, see the notice from the London Mathematical Society.

Romanian Master of Mathematics 2020 UK participants (5 January 2020)

Following the annual IMO Winter School held in Hungary, 27 December to 4 January, the students to represent the UK at the Romanian Master of Mathematics competition have been selected as:

The team is led by James Gazet (St. Paul’s School), Freddie Illingworth (Emmanuel College, Cambridge) and Georgina Majury (Peterhouse, Cambridge). The RMM will take place in Bucharest, 26 February–2 March.

BMO Round 1 high scores (13 December 2019)

BMO Round 1 was marked in Cambridge on 6–8 December. The following candidates scored 50 or more out of 60.

BMO Round 1 marked (9 December 2019)

BMO Round 1 was marked in Cambridge on 6–8 December. Data entry is currently ongoing. Invitations to the IMO winter camp in Hungary will be issued later this week, and the list of high-scoring students will appear on this site.

BMO Round 1 (30 November 2019)

This year’s BMO Round 1 paper was taken yesterday; video solutions are available online. Production facilities for the video were donated by the University of Bath Audio Visual Unit. The problems were by Nick MacKinnon, Tom Bowler, Daniel Griller, Daniel Griller, Dominic Rowland and Sam Bealing, respectively.

UK MOG markers’ report and prize winners (5 November 2019)

The markers’ report for the 2019 UK Mathematical Olympiad for Girls paper is now available, including extended discussions of the problems and the approaches taken by candidates. The following participants scored 46 or more out of 50 and have been awarded book prizes.

UK Mathematical Olympiad for Girls (9 October 2019)

The UK Mathematical Olympiad for Girls (UK MOG) paper was taken yesterday. Solutions are also available. The paper will be marked on the weekend of 19–20 October.

IMO 2019 results (19 July 2019)

The IMO papers were sat on 16 and 17 July. The results of the UK team members are shown below. We obtained one gold, two silver and three bronze medals and a score of 149 out of 252, coming 20th out of 112 participating countries. The medal boundaries were 31 for Gold, 24 for Silver and 17 for Bronze.

The achievements of this year’s UK olympiad teams will be celebrated at Central Hall Westminster on Monday 23 September, when Dr Jeremy King will give the 42nd annual IMO lecture.

Our thanks to this year’s IMO supporter, Oxford Asset Management.

IMO 2019 problems (17 July 2019)

The IMO 2019 papers were sat on 16 and 17 July in Bath; the problems are available. The problems were submitted by South Africa, Ukraine, Croatia, El Salvador, USA and India respectively.

Our thanks to this year’s IMO supporter, Oxford Asset Management.

Mathematics Ashes results (13 July 2019)

Australia has won the 12th Mathematics Ashes competition, decided on the results of today’s practice exam at the joint pre-IMO training camp in Bath; the results for the two teams were as follows, with the UK scoring a total of 77 and Australia scoring a total of 104:

Our thanks to this year’s IMO supporter, Oxford Asset Management.