Taiwan topped the World Mathematics Invitational, which finished on Tuesday, with 13 diamond, 39 gold, 56 silver and 36 bronze awards.
The annual competition draws mathematics students from around the world, with national try-outs prior to the final organized by a host country in July, organizing committee examination director Paul Ou (歐俊甫) said.
The World Mathematics Invitational returned to Malaysia after eight years for its 12th edition this year, which began on Friday last week, Ou said.
Photo: screen grab from the World Mathematics Invitational Web site
Contestants ranged from kindergarten to senior-high-school level, he said.
The 904 contestants this year were from 22 countries, including Taiwan, Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam, he said, adding that Taiwan had the second-biggest team, topped only by the host country.
In addition to the diamond, gold, silver and bronze awards won by Taiwanese, the nation also garnered nine merit awards.
Diamond awards are given to contestants whose total score ranked among the top 3 percent of all participants. Gold, silver and bronze are given to contestants in the top 12, 25 and 30 percent respectively.
Six Taiwanese students on Tuesday were given Legend awards for winning gold for three consecutive years.
Liu Cheng-lin (劉承潾), who studies at Washington High School in Taichung, achieved the highest total among the Taiwanese at the event, earning the Star of the World, which is given to the top scorer from each country or region with at least 50 contestants.
An undated video showed a group of winners, including Liu, posing for a group photograph holding their nations’ flags.
Chinese and Russian contestants were apparently vying for space to display their flags, the video showed.
The World Mathematics Invitational is independent of political issues, an international competition where contestants focus on solving math problems, leaving behind territorial disputes between China and the Philippines, India and Pakistan, or Ukraine and Russia, Ou said.
This event is one of the few international contests where Taiwanese can participate in the honor of holding the flag of Taiwan at awards ceremonies, he added.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final
EYE ON MAYORS: The DPP would file a complaint with the Control Yuan against Ko and Chiang over their handling of reports of abuse at a preschool in the city The Taipei City Government’s belated response under Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and his predecessor, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), to alleged child sex abuse at a kindergarten resulted in more children being victimized, two Taipei City Councilors said yesterday. A Taipei preschool teacher has been charged with sexually abusing six children from 2021 to last year at a school registered to his mother. Prosecutors are reportedly considering additional charges amid a wave of new accusations allegedly linking the suspect to 20 other abused children and the discovery at his residence of more than 600 sexually explicit videos featuring minors. The