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US Team Brings Home 7 Medals from 2010 China Girls Mathematical Olympiad

US team and their coaches before 2010 China Girls Mathematical Olympiad
The 2010 US CGMO Team

Official results are in for the 2010 China Girls Math Olympiad (CGMO). The Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) announced that one of the two U.S. teams that competed has placed second, behind a team from China, in the overall standings among 48 teams of girls from about ten countries throughout the world. Of the eight girls on the U.S. teams, seven students won top honors—five gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze—at the international competition.

The members of the 2010 U.S. team are:

Cynthia Day (Lynbrook High School)

Adisa Kruayatidee (Phillips Exeter Academy)

Shiyu (Jing-Jing) Li (Cupertino High School)

Jae Eui Shin (Phillips Academy)

Elizabeth Synge (Boston University Academy)

Andi Wang (Choate Rosemary Hall)

Lynelle Ye (Palo Alto High School)

Joy Zheng (Phillips Exeter Academy)

Cynthia Day, Shiyu (Jing-Jing) Li, and Joy Zheng were members of the 2009 all-medal winning team. Zheng and Lynelle Ye were also medal-winning members of the U.S. team in 2008. 

This year's gold medals were awarded to Shiyu (Jing-Jing) Li, Jae Eui Shin, Elizabeth Synge, Lynnelle Ye, and Shijie Joy Zheng. Cynthia Day won a silver medal, Adisa Kruayatidee was awarded a bronze medal, and an honorable mention acknowledged Andi Wang. The team that won second place included: Jae Eui Shin, Elizabeth Synge, Lynnelle Ye, and Shijie Joy Zheng.

The two-day competition features eight problems, each covering major topics: algebra, combinatorics, geometry, and number theory. 

Team coach Zuming Feng reported on this year's competition in a recent email, saying, "We did well on combinatorics problems. We also did well on number theory problems. We did up to our potential on geometry problems – this is a major weak subject. The first day problem turned out to be too hard for all contestants. The problem committee made some adjustments on the geometry problem in the second day to make it more accessible, and the results showed this is as a correct decision for all contestants."

"In particular, Lynelle provided the most insightful solution to problem 4, which might well be the hardest problem on the exam," Zuming Feng continued. "It is an algebra problem, which is our real weak subject in general."

This year's Olympiad took place August 9-13 in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province, about 40 miles southwest of Beijing. The U.S. team spent a few days in Hong Kong on the way to the competition to adjust to the time change and a few days in Beijing on the way home.  For more on their trip, read the girls' postings on MSRI's Travelogue

Feng was also the leader of the USA International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) team. He teaches at Phillips Exeter Academy and has been director of the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (MOSP) since 2003.

Assistant coaches this year are Inna Zakharevich and Sherry Gong. Zakharevich was in the top 12 at the 2002 USAMO and is currently a graduate student at MIT. Gong was a member of the 2007 USA IMO and 2007 GMO teams and is currently at Harvard.

"This girls-only international contest provides an invaluable opportunity to encourage young women to study mathematics and develop their talent," said Robert Bryant, Director of MSRI. "The CGMO experience has a profound effect on the young women who participate, and it provides an inspiration to other students, helping them appreciate the fun and accomplishment of solving hard problems."

MAA is an official partner with Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in supporting the U.S. team. Other partners include IBM Research - Almaden, Akamai Foundation, Sunlin and Priscilla Chou Foundation, and Science Workshop.


id: 
4160
News Date: 
Friday, August 13, 2010