135 Olympians came from all over Colorado to compete in the 39th Soifer Mathematical Olympiad on October 6. Participants were from Aurora, Broomfield, Centennial, Cherry Hills Village, Colorado Springs, Denver, Englewood, Fountain, Greeley, Greenwood Village, Highlands Ranch, Littleton, Lone Tree, Loveland, Snowmass Village, Timnath, Windsor and Woodland Park.
The Olympians were offered five problems and given four hours to solve them and present complete essay-type solutions.
First prize, once again, was awarded by the Olympiad Jury to Srinivas Arun, now a senior at Cherry Creek High School. In 2021 Arun won Second Prize, and in 2022 he won First Prize.
He received an Olympiad Gold Medal, a $1,000 scholarship to be used at any certified American University, a $2,000 UCCS Chancellor’s Scholarship for Olympiads Medalists who enroll in UCCS as new freshmen, and two books published and donated by sponsor Springer.
Second prize was awarded to Shruti Arun, now a sophomore at Cherry Creek High School. She won First Prize in 2021 and Third Prize in 2022.
She received an Olympiad Silver Medal, a $750 scholarship to be used at any certified American university, a $2,000 UCCS Chancellor’s Scholarship for Olympiads Medalists who enroll in UCCS as new freshmen, and two books published and donated by sponsor Springer.
Shruti Arun also received a Special Jury Prize for the only solution of Problem 5B.
Third prizes were awarded to Amanda Chen, a junior at Cherry Creek High School; and Adam Mikaelian, a sophomore at Pine Creek High School.
Each of them received an Olympiad Bronze Medal, a $2,000 UCCS Chancellor’s Scholarship for Olympiads Medalists who enroll in UCCS as new freshmen, and three books by Alexander Soifer, including “The Mathematical Coloring Book: Mathematics of Coloring and the Colorful Life of Its Creators,” “Geometric Etudes in Combinatorial Mathematics,” and “How Does One Cut a Triangle?”
First Honorable Mentions were awarded to the following 30 Olympians: Matthew Christensen, 9th grade, Thomas Maclaren High School; David Kent, freshman, Air Academy High School; Abigail Douglas, senior, Cherry Creek High School; Melissa Ye, freshman, Cherry Creek High School; Rohith Thomas, freshman, Cherry Creek High School; Ulugbek Salohiddinov, senior, Cherry Creek High School; Wang Yalun, Cherry Creek High School; Joshua Liu, 8th grade, Davidson Academy Online; Brian McHughs, junior, George Washington High School; Austin Zhang, junior, Grandview High School; Marie Wiseman, 8th grade, Homeschooled; Ben Jensen, sophomore, Pine Creek High School; Nannapat Intongkam, Rock Canyon High School; Lucas George, senior, Windsor Charter Academy; Samuel Gisi, Rock Canyon High School; Declan North, sophomore, Thomas Maclaren High School; Clarence Lilevjen, freshman, Thomas MacLaren High School; Andrew LaFountain, junior, Thomas MacLaren High School; Casey Johnson, sophomore, Thomas MacLaren High School; Grady Brown, senior, Thomas MacLaren High School; Kai Parris, Thomas MacLaren High School; Charles Rochford, 6th grade, West Middle School; Ethan Gragus, 8th grade, West Middle School; Kyle Roosa, West Middle School; Miles Melkun, 8th grade, West Middle School; Noland Wedlaw, 8th grade, West Middle School; Terry Zhang, 8th grade, West Middle School; Wyatt LaPlante, 7th grade, West Middle School – Gifted Magnet Program; Kaylee Weickert, senior, Windsor Charter Academy; Kendall Albertsen, junior, Windsor Charter Academy.
Each of them received four books by Alexander Soifer, including “Geometric Etudes in Combinatorial Mathematics,” “How Does One Cut a Triangle?,” “Colorado Mathematical Olympiad: The First 10 Years and Further Explorations,” and “Mathematics as Problem Solving.”
Second Honorable Mentions were awarded to the following 30 Olympians: Erica Choi; Noah Liu, 5th grade, Challenge Middle School; Jonathan Wiseman, sophomore, Colorado Springs Early Colleges; Ruth Wiseman, sophomore, Colorado Springs Early Colleges; Ivan Skaggs, senior, Coronado High School; Natalie Muro, sophomore, Palmer High School; Emmett Smith, Pine Creek High School; Shivam Singh, Pine Creek High School; Dhriti Ramesh, Rock Canyon High School; Jadyn Flinn, 6th grade, Soaring Eagles Community School; Cooper Alvin, 8th grade, Thomas Maclaren School; Braddock Hewitt, 8th grade, Thomas MacLaren School; Caleb Walsh, 8th grade, Thomas MacLaren School; Gavin Walsh, sophomore, Thomas MacLaren School; Jasper North, 8th grade, Thomas MacLaren School; Heath Atkins, Thomas MacLaren School; Isaac Valdez-Hasbrouck, 8th grade, Thomas MacLaren School; Kazuma Turnbull, 8th grade, Thomas MacLaren School; Micah Rasmussen, freshman, Thomas MacLaren School; Ravi Sittner, freshman, Thomas MacLaren School; Brad Martinez, West Middle School; Dillon Brown, 7th grade, West Middle School; Egan Rinebarger, 8th grade, West Middle School; Hiro Kawanabe, 6th grade, West Middle School; Sishkand Sathish, West Middle School; Anastacia Collins, junior, Windsor Charter Academy; Braden Sulzen, freshman, Windsor Charter Academy; Ethan Gopaul, junior, Windsor Charter Academy; Jonathan Southam, junior, Windsor Charter Academy; Brady Johnson, 10th grade, Windsor Charter Academy.
Each of them will receive two books by Alexander Soifer, including “Colorado Mathematical Olympiad: The First 10 Years” and “Further Explorations and Mathematics as Problem Solving.”
Those who wish to understand the spirit of the Olympiad are invited to solve one of the 39th Soifer Mathematical Olympiad’s five problems. Here is our problem 5B for your enjoyment:
Blobs in the grid
A bottle of ink exploded and left blobs inside 3034 unit cells of a 2022×2022 square grid. Is it possible to get rid of all blobs by removing 1011 rows and 1011 columns?
On Friday, October 13, 2023, at 2 p.m. in Berger Hall of UCCS, the Award Presentation Ceremonies were conducted with the participation of UCCS Provost Nancy Marchand-Martella; Dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences L. Lynn Vidler; Paul Bunge, K-12 Mathematics Facilitator, Colorado Springs District 11; Tacy Killingsworth, M.A., Director for Curriculum and Instruction, Academy District 20; Michelle Dusserre Farrell, Senior Director of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum, 1984 Silver Olympic Medalist (Gymnastics); Lt-Col. Ret. Dr. Robert Ewell, a Senior Member of the Olympiad Jury; and Alexander Soifer, Olympiad Founder and Chair, Professor, UCCS.
This year’s prize fund of the Olympiad and means for its delivery have been generously donated by Springer Publisher; Colorado Springs School District 11; Air Academy School District 20; UCCS Food and Hospitality Services; Robert and June Ewell; Chancellor, UCCS; Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, UCCS; LAS Dean’s Office; UCCS Parking and Transportation; and Alexander Soifer.
In the 39 years (1984-2023) of the Soifer (formerly Colorado) Mathematical Olympiad, about 20,000 students have participated. They have written about 99,000 essays and were awarded over $610,000 in prizes.
The Olympiad is a unique joint effort of school districts, schools, industry, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and State of Colorado government.
The 40th Soifer Mathematical Olympiad will take place on Friday, October 4, 2024, with the Award Presentation following a week later on October 11, 2024. Learn more here.