Joe’s state primary school worked hard to keep up with his appetite for maths his secondary, St Paul’s independent school in Barnes, south-east London, has an established tradition of entering pupils in maths competitions. There’s some anxiety, but that comes mostly after you’ve sat the exams and you’re waiting for the results.” You have an idea and you try it and you work from there. The next day the competitors will do the same again.Ģ014 film X+Y tells the story of a maths prodigy falling in love at the International Maths Olympiad The test lasts four and a half hours and is made up of three problems, each more difficult than the last. Then on Friday morning Joe and the rest of the British team, fresh from a last-minute training camp in Malaysia, will take their seats alongside their rivals in a vast examination hall. Teams from as far afield as Afghanistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Syria and Mongolia, Macau, Cuba, Cambodia and Iran will descend on Chiang Mai University for the opening ceremony on Thursday. The event has its own flag and even its own hymn: “Gathered in one desire / We are coming from everywhere / To share the joy of joining / Science and art in one / We add, we multiply / And we come to a total / Infinite is our dream / With no measure indeed / We shall meet again / Solving the problems / To think is our way / Friendship our system is.” Like the Olympics, competitors win individual medals but also compete as a national team. Now, it’s a global event with more than 500 teenagers from over 100 countries. It began in 1959 with seven countries competing in Bucharest, Romania. The IMO is the world cup of mathematics competitions for secondary school-age students. Joe is one of six gifted young mathematicians chosen for the British team who will compete next week in the 56th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I really enjoy the kick you get when you solve a problem, when it’s something you’ve been thinking of as impossible for a long time, and it suddenly becomes obvious. “I’ve always been interested in maths, since I can remember,” says 16-year-old Joe Benton.
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