參加 2012 IMSO 感想

This October, I went to Lucknow, India to attend IMSO. I was very happy to go there, and I learned a lot of things.

One thing I’d learned was how to make foreign friends who have the same hobby as I do. I talk to two South African students. In our conversation, I realized one of them lived once in Taiwan and the other is going to move to Taipei soon. I think we can be good friends and attend math contest together. At the last night, I visited kids from Singapore and played with them for more than two hours. We played a brain-storming board game and a detective-chase-Mr.X board game. I found that it required fully focus to get high scores. I was happy that I could make a lot of good friends. I hope we can keep friendship forever.

Another thing is about math, something that you think impossible can become possible. For example, on my last day in India, Professor Sun gave a speech about coloring, which is a very important way to put many smaller tiles into a larger rectangle. After the speech, he gave us a question: how many N tetrominos can be put into a six-by-six square? I knew that it’s impossible to put in nine, but how about eight? I tried for some different way but I could only put in seven. Prof. Sun said that eight is the solution, so I tried harder. Then finally I found the solution for using eight N tetrominos. I was so happy when I finally figure it out. I think that’s why math is so fun. You can quit, or you can keep looking for a solution. When you eventually find the answer, you’ll be very happy and excited!

The third thing is the different way people live in India. For starter, their schedule is quite different. For example, in India we don’t eat dinner until eight o’clock. Food is quite different too. Curry is their main course. Even the pie I ate at shopping mall is curry flavored. The food I liked most was the Indian nan bread, because it’s soft and delicious. Another thing is there is hardly any traffic light, and some cars would even drive on the wrong side of the road. Surprisingly, I didn’t see any accident. I think due to the chaotic traffic, drivers are forced to pay close attention to everything on the road. On our tour trip around Lucknow, I saw some people live in simple tents just beside glorious big houses. I was very impressed with all these.

The last thing I learned is that I should manage my time wisely. I didn’t use my time wisely during both the free times and quizzes, so I didn’t do as well as I could have. I only won a silver medal instead of a gold medal. I’m very disappointed about the final result I have.

In this contest, Taiwan team only has five students for math. Unlike other countries, such as Thailand and Singapore, they had more than twenty or thirty students. Some countries fully supported their teams and even assigned officials to go along with their teams. I really hope Taiwan’s students can have much more support from government when they attend international contests.

An interesting side story was that, I was on the news twice. The first time was when we were having group photo shoot. I was speaking and facing to the group. The principal of the hosting school kept telling me to turn around and face the camera. The other time was when I was walking with my friends to the cafeteria. Since this was an interview, I was facing the camera. I answered the first question. But because I was a little nervous about being interviewed and the interviewer was speaking so quickly, I couldn’t respond immediately to the second question “What’s the importance of unity and peace? ”. Although I didn’t answer her questions as well as I could have, I sure did like being interviewed on TV. I wish I had been interviewed more so that I could answer the questions perfectly.

On this trip to India, I learned not only about math, but also how to make new friends and the culture about India. I’m very happy to have this opportunity to learn so many things. I’ll keep the lessons in mind and keep on learning!

臺中市仁美國小－湯昀輯

My name is KAO, WEI-BO. I am a 6 grade student in New Taipei City Banqiao District Pucian Elementary School. I went to India to attend the IMSO (International Mathematics and science Olympiad 2012 ) from 12/28 to 11/1 2012.More than 200 students attended this contest. They came from 12 countries including Taiwan, South Africa, Philippines, Sri Lanka , Nigeria, Singapore, India , Indonesia , Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, and China. There were two kinds of contests. One was mathematics and the other was science. I am one of the students who participated in the math contest. The math contest had three parts, including short answers, an essay and exploration problems. The short answer section was easy, but time was very short. The essay section was more difficult than the short answer part and you had more time. The exploration problems were the most difficult, and longer time was allowed. This exam was all English .It was very hard for me. After this contest I know that English is very important. I will practice English. This is my first time to attend an all English contest. I prepared for it for a long time. I got the silver medal. I think it is a good score. Thank you to Professor Sun, my teacher, my parents and my friends for helping me. This was a good experience for me. India is a special place. There are a lot of things which are different from Taiwan. Their temples are very new and clean, but the temples in Taiwan are usually very old. The people are very special, too. Their people’s skin is very dark. There are a lot of people who are poor and some people who are very rich, so the gap between rich and poor is quite big. The traffic is very bad. A lot of roads do not have traffic lights, but I did not see any accidents. There food is very special. Their curry is famous and it is delicious. I think this was a very good chance for me. I have learnt a lot of things, like how to make new friends and not being shy. I made a lot of new friends from a lot of different countries. The most friends are from China because we can speak Chinese. I hope that I could attend the international contest again.



新北市埔墘國小－高瑋伯

I had been told that I was going to the IMSO 2012 contest for Taiwan team on 9/20. I was very nervous because it was different with other mathematics contests in Taiwan, there were all English questions. A week later, the teacher announced the score. I had been chosen! I was so excited! Then, the teacher gave me some question papers for practicing which were included Short answers, Essays and Explorations from the 1st IMSO to the 8th. During that time, I understood that I must calm down to think then can find the answers and practiced a lot to make a progress.

It was the day of departure from Taiwan to India on 10/27 and we transited flights to Lucknow on 10/28. The Lucknow airport is small but very clean. When we arrived there, the founder of CMS, Dr. Jagdish Gandhi, came to welcome us. There were 11 countries attended the IMSO 2012, such as, China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia...etc. There were about 250 contestants.

The contest times of IMSO 2012 were in 10/30 and 10/31 morning and it was taken in the auditorium of CMS. All the contestants were very nervous including me, that we could make each answer correctly and checked it carefully. We went sightseeing in this afternoon and attended the cultural presentation in 10/31 evening. It was the show time. Every contestant wore on their cultural clothes to present their cultural dances or songs. I knew many countries’ culture that time. After the cultural presentation, I exchanged some gifts and name cards with other contestants and took pictures together. We made friends.

In11/1 morning it was the feedback time. All the students and teachers need to talk about what we learned in these days. The order of in front of our team was China’s that use Chinese to talk and many participants didn’t understand what they were speaking. It made me realize the importance of English. In the afternoon the winners would be announced and all the students got very excited. Thailand and Singapore team’s scores were the best. We all got medals but didn’t get any gold medal. What a shame! I got a bronze medal but the score wasn’t perfect. I believe I can do it better next time.

We said goodbye and thanks to the principal, teachers and staffs when we would be leaving CMS on 12/2. When we were back to Delhi, we visited a temple called “Akshardham”. It was very beautiful and amazing, but cameras were not allowed. We also visited a building called “India Door”, it was really huge! Just like the Arc de Triomphe in France. At last, we went to the Delhi airport and departure to Taiwan. The IMSO 2012 activities in India finally came to an end.

This IMSO 2012 competition in India, I learned a lot of things. I learned on my own thinking is the key to progress in mathematical ability, is also the largest of fun to do math! And I found the other countries mathematical ability has been in progress, so I told myself must have sustained progress too.

During the eight days in India, I found that India is a very different country. For example, the skin color, language, food, clothing, constructions, transportations, the environment, religions, customs and habits etc. are all very different with Taiwan. There are about 1.2 billion people in India. It has the second highest population in the world. People have darker skin. English is the official language. The most popular food is curry. The ladies are usually wearing their own cultural clothes-Sari. On the road, there are always traffic jams. Everyone likes to horn. Trash is everywhere. Cows walk freely in the streets. And when we went in to the airport or department store, we always needed to go through a “Security Door”. India is really a special country over all, but I feel very interesting.

Finally, I would like to thank Professor Sun and Teacher Ya-Ran for giving me this opportunity to attend this contest and training us to have good scores. I will never forget this best “India Memory”.

台中市華盛頓小學 陳品延

I am Hsieh, Chia-Chen from a pretty island, Taiwan. I study in Washington Bilingual Elementary School and attended International Math and Science Olympiad in India, 2012. For this competition, I’d spent only five weeks preparing it, however, I truly believe that one month isn’t enough for me to get ready for such a big and challenging task. There were hundreds of intelligent contestants like me taking this contest. But luckily, I got the silver medal, and I am so happy to have it.
As the first day of this trip to India, we spent almost nine hours to get to the capital city, New Dehli. We were scheduled to stay at a quite casual simplicity hotel for a night and I honestly didn’t like it at all. After this brief stay at the hotel, we were going straight ahead to another city called Lucknow, where the competition was taking place. As soon as we arrived, staff there took all the competitors to do the check-in procedure immediately. And I call this efficiently first two days in India.
After the stressful 96 hours, the competition was successfully completed and we finally got an opportunity to hang out with others. Sightseeing was the first thing and the major activity on our schedule. I have to say that it’s so amazing for me to get that close to all the cows. I saw them wandering on the road and they were almost everywhere I went. Besides sightseeing, we bought lots of spicy and delicious Indian curry, and the saris we bought look so elegant, particular and gorgeous. Of course, the most touching moment was the cultural performances from different countries. All the contestants did their best to show the programs that could symbolize the features and beauties of their own countries. Honestly, I am so proud of Taiwan when we showed the flag and said, “Welcome to Taiwan”. Even though being nervous, I still stimulated myself to say “Welcome to Taiwan” out loudly with full encouragement. My mom told me she was so touched when that strong slogan floated in the air. And I know that I will absolutely do that again if the moment comes to me in the future.
In one word, all I want to say is my first trip to India was an unforgettable experience. It’s so sure that I do wish to have another opportunity to attend this kind of international contest someday. Thanks mom, Dr.Sun and all my teachers.

臺中市華盛頓國中 謝佳辰