11/06/2021

Landim: 'It's not enough to identify young talents, but to train them'

For the deputy director of IMPA and general coordinator of OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools), the role of the competition is not only to “identify young talents, but to train them”, through programs such as PIC Jr , for example. The statement was made during the live broadcast of the Valor Econômico newspaper this Friday (11). Conducted by Valor's digital coordinator in Rio, Rafael Rosas, the broadcast also included the participation of IMPA researcher and general coordinator of the Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad (OBM) Carlos Gustavo Moreira (Gugu). In the conversation, the researchers talked about the history, organization and impact of Brazilian mathematics olympiads.

Since its creation in 2005, OBMEP has triggered a series of initiatives that have had a great impact on Brazilian education. The PIC Jr. program, for example, which involves around 7,000 medalists annually, offers scholarships for students to participate in advanced mathematics classes at higher education institutions, giving them new perspectives, Landim pointed out.

“The program aims to encourage talented students to pursue careers and aspire to enter university. Many of these children are the first in their families to attend higher education, something that was not a prospect for them. By participating in the program, they learn that this opportunity exists, that it is a natural path.”

Because they present creative mathematical problems that demand a combination of different ideas and a "non-trivial" level of creativity, mathematics olympiads introduce students to the possibility of a career in mathematics, unknown to many of them, Gugu explained. "The idea that you can pursue a career in mathematical research is exotic to most of the population. Discovering that mathematics is a living science and that you can work on open-ended problems is fascinating."

The general coordinator of the Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad (OBM) highlighted that a large part of the international and Brazilian mathematical community chose their careers based on participation in scientific olympiads. “This was certainly the case with Artur Avila, our Brazilian Fields Medalist. He started by participating in mathematics olympiads. I met Artur when he was 13 years old, participating in training for international olympiads because he had excelled in the OBM. He got to know IMPA (Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics), was fascinated by the professional mathematicians, and discovered that he could seriously pursue mathematics professionally.”

Landim also spoke about the organization of OBMEP, which involves around 20 million students from more than 50,000 schools annually. “It’s not an easy task. The first phase of the Olympiad consists of a multiple-choice test, sent by mail to the schools, which administer and grade the exam. The second phase takes place in 9,000 centers spread across Brazil and involves 54,000 proctors. It’s an impressive logistical operation.”

The deputy director of IMPA highlighted the low cost of the competition, guaranteed by IMPA with resources from the Ministry of Education (MEC) and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI). “What is extraordinary is that the exam costs less than R $ 3.00 per student. The annual budget for the competition is R $ 35 million,” he commented.

The researchers also discussed Brazil's entry into the Top 10 of the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in 2020. Gugu highlighted that the country had already won gold medals since its debut in the competition in 1981, but the good results used to be sporadic. "This has changed very consistently in recent decades. The Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad (OBM) underwent a major change starting in 1998, a time when the mathematical community realized the importance of the Olympiads for the training of Brazilian mathematicians and began to provide more institutional support, a process that was led by Jacob Palis."

The live stream is available in its entirety on Valor Econômico's YouTube channel: