Three silver medals for Israel in the Mathematics Olympiad for girls

"We would like to see more girls compete in the math olympiads in Israel" says Maya Nava, one of the winners. The head of the delegation, Dan Carmon from Tel Aviv University, says that the purpose of the competition was to encourage more girls to compete in mathematics

Avi Blizovsky
An impressive achievement for the Israeli team at the EGMO International Mathematics Olympiad for girls that took place in Zurich, Switzerland in recent days. The Israeli team for the Mathematics Olympiad for girls, numbering 4 participants, will return to Israel with three silver medals and 6th place out of 44 teams in the general ranking.

Team members Shira Ben Dor (silver medal), Dana Zeidman, Yordan Modai (silver medal) and Maya Neve (silver medal), participated in the prestigious competition held in Zurich, Switzerland alongside 168 competitors from 44 countries. Beyond the extraordinary achievement, for the team this is an impressive jump compared to last year, when they ranked 21st. The team's coach is Lev Radzivilovski.
Team member Dana Zeidman will also participate in the Asian Physics Olympiad in about two weeks, which will be held in Kutsk in Siberia and will include participants of both genders.

The EGMO is designed to create a space where women and girls can reach their potential and demonstrate their talent on an international stage and encourage them to develop a career in the field. The competition gradually gained importance, and as part of the global appreciation for it, it received the support of reputed international scientific bodies. This is the second year that Israel participates in the competition, as last year also Shira Ben Dor and Maya Neve won a silver medal. The members of the girls' team are part of the mathematics team, whose members represent Israel in various competitions around the world. The team's staff was built and trained by the School of Mathematical Sciences at Tel Aviv University and Tel Aviv University for Youth.

In an interview with the Hidan website, the head of the delegation, Dan Carmon, a docent with Prof. Zeev Rodik in the Department of Mathematics at Tel Aviv University, explains that the competition consists of two days of tests, each day a 4.5 hour test containing three difficult math questions that the girls are required to sit down and solve. "Beyond the competition itself, they meet competitors from all over Europe and the world - the USA, Japan and many countries from South America also participate in the competition, and a representative from another country in the Middle East - Saudi Arabia - also participated. Last year we sent a limited team, this year we are sending a full team that arrived at a very nice place."

"Each competitor solves the exam in her own language. The questions are in the mother tongue and in another language and after that you have to translate their answers. Out of 45 countries that participated in the competition, there were over 30 different languages ​​in which the contestants received questions and solved solutions."

Give an example of the question
"The 2017 figures are straight in a plane, so no three pass through one point. The snail turbo sits on some point on exactly one of the straight lines, and begins to slide along the straight lines as follows: it moves along the straight line it is on until it reaches an intersection with another straight line. At the intersection, she continues her journey along the other straight line while turning left or right, and at each intersection she changes the choice of turning direction, alternately. Turbo can change the direction of its movement only at the intersection points. Is it possible that there is a section along which a turbo slides in both possible directions during its journey?"

Why do we actually need a separate Olympics for girls after all it is not a sport?

"It is more similar to chess, there is a general international championship in which both boys and girls participate, but unfortunately the situation is that there are more boys than girls. The goal of this competition is to encourage women to participate in math competitions and reach a state of equality in the international competition."

How did the preparations take place?
"The preparations were mainly in the framework of training camps, this year there were four camps, each camp lasting about a week and in between weekly meetings in which the participants in the various Olympics (boys and girls) train on problems of the type that appear in the Olympics. In the camps, 30 participants are regularly trained, and then the participants are chosen for each team."

What is the share of Tel Aviv University?

"Tel Aviv University is the body that manages the issue, under whose umbrella the (local) Olympics are held in Israel under the organization of Tel Aviv University for Youth (formerly Youth Seeking Science). Tel Aviv University also subsidizes a significant portion of the flights and training camps in addition to the participation of the Ministry of Education and also provides resources such as the use of the university's facilities for meetings and hosting certain parts of the camps. Most of the training and camp staff are past graduates of the camps, including, of course, Lev Radzivilovski, the team's head coach." says Carmon.

The competitor Shira Ben Dor, one of the winners of the silver medal, tells about herself: "I am 18 years old, I live in Jerusalem, I study at the high school near the university, I love math, I know it since the eighth grade, it's a cool subject, I want to be a mathematician."

How does the environment receive it?

"The environment is very encouraging and supportive. I think that the environment tends to do it in cases of successes and less in cases before successes, especially with girls, they should not be congratulated only in the case of successes. And they will congratulate someone even before they bring some kind of medal."

Maya Neve: "I am an XNUMXth grade student at the Leobek school in Haifa, I like math and also travel." The truth is that I realized at a young age that I wanted to do mathematics. When I was little my father, brother and mother would ask me questions and explain things to me and that made me love math. In the XNUMXth grade I passed a stage in the tests for the Olympics and started coming to trainings and since then it has been stronger for me. But there are also those who do not come from the family but simply from the environment.
Noa would like to see more girls in the field: "It would be nice for us to see more girls in the Olympics in Israel, progressing, loving the field and succeeding in international Olympics, by the way, boys too."