The Mediterranean Mathematics Competition (also: Peter O’Halloran Memorial) is a mathematics competition for school students, taking place annually since 1998. All countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea are allowed to participate, as well as, if invited, their neighbouring countries. The contest, short-labelled "Mediterranean" is commonly regarded as the hardest amongst the mathematical student contests, including the IMO.
Contents
Motto
The Mediterranean Competition's goals are:
Rules
The contest is conducted separately in every country. Each participating country can let an unrestricted number of students write the contest, but only the results of the top ten, according to national evaluation, can be submitted for international ranking. Every of these is awarded a certificate either of participation or merit, whereas the levels of merit - Gold, Silver, Bronze and Honorable Mention – are awarded similarly to the International Mathematical Olympiad. The participants have to be less than 20 years of age and may not have enrolled in a university study or a comparable educative scheme.
History
The Mediterranean Competition initially took place in 1998, created and until today organized by Spanish Francisco Bellot Rosado. In the first year, only three problems were to be solved. However from the second year on, the contest consisted of four problems each, with an overall contest time of four hours.
In 2013, a faulty problem has been given for the first time, an inequation to be proven was wrong.