Australian Mathematics Trust

Mathematics Challenge for Young Australians

Australian Bronze at 2005 IOI

Alexander Davies, of Anglican Church Grammar School, Queensland, has won a Bronze Medal at the 17th International Olympiad in Informatics, held in Novy Sacz, Poland between 18 and 25 August. Alex, pictured below displaying his medal after the Closing Ceremony, won his medal by being placed in the top half of all contestants in the world's premier contest for secondary students in computer programming.

He was first identified as a possible team candidate after entering the Australian Mathematics Trust's Australian Informatics Olympiad, which is held in the first week of September each year.

This event was contested by 75 countries, each comprising a team of four students. They have to write programs to perform specified tasks within a certain time after reading the task, and their programs are marked automatically by computer after testing the programs with data designed by the examiners. It is a test of problem solving as much as a test in computer programming.

Other members of the Australian team were not far behind Alex, and for the first time all have scored over 200 points which means they made significant progress on their tasks. These members were Christopher Chen, of Carey Baptist Grammar School, VIC, Ramana Kumar, of Canberra Grammar School, ACT and Chris Leong, of James Ruse Agricultural High School, NSW.

Question by Question Scores were:

NAME	YR	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	Q6	TOT
CHEN Christopher Carey Baptist Grammar School VIC	11	0	70	50	41	20	50	231
DAVIES Alexander Anglican Church Grammar School QLD	12	0	70	50	63	95	0	278
KUMAR Ramana Canberra Grammar School ACT	12	25	45	14	54	75	0	213
LEONG Chris James Ruse Ag High School NSW	12	5	35	5	100	100	10	255

[Team]

The team is shown above after the Closing Ceremony. From left Dr Ben Burton (Team Leader), Alex Davies, Raana Kumar, Anka Czarny (Guide), Chris Leong, Christopher Chen and Bernard Blackham (Deputy Leader).

The program is supported by the Australian Government through the Quality Outcomes Section of the Department of Education, Science and Training. The team's involvement at IOI is also supported by the Australian Computer Society.

Earlier ...

IOI Team arrives in Vienna

The Australian 2005 IOI team has arrived in Vienna on 17 August. They are staying overnight to get used to the new time zones and fly on to Krakow on the 18th. The IOI will take place in Novy Sacz, Poland, until 25 August.

The team takes a ride on the famous Vienna Ferris Wheel, from left Christopher Chen, Alex Davies, Chris Leong, Ramana Kumar and Bernard Blackham (Deputy Leader) with Leader Dr Ben Burton in front.