The 55th International Mathematical Olympiad

Evan Chen

Cape Town, South Africa

July 2014
Contents
1 Problems 3
1.1 Day 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Day 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 Results 4
2.1 Predicted Scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3 Solutions and Contest Analysis 5

3.1 Problem 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.2 Problem 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.3 Problem 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.4 Problem 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.5 Problem 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.6 Problem 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.7 Day 1 Contest Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.8 Day 2 Contest Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

4 Diary of Events 11
4.1 July 5 The Airplane Ride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.2 July 6 Arrival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.3 July 7 The Opening Ceremony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.4 July 8 IMO Day 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.5 July 9 IMO Day 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.6 July 10 Excursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.7 July 11 Lecture Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.8 July 12 Penultimate Excursion and Closing Ceremony . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.9 July 13 Midnight Excursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

2
1 Problems
It appears that the protocol for 1, 2, 4, 5 being distinct subjects is still in effect.
Unfortunately, this has forced the inclusion of Problem 5 as a fake N which is really C,
making this an IMO with three combinatorics problems.

1.1 Day 1
Problem 1. Let a0 < a1 < a2 . . . be an infinite sequence of positive integers. Prove that
there exists a unique integer n 1 such that
a0 + a1 + a2 + + an
an < an+1 .
n
Problem 2. Let n 2 be an integer. Consider an n n chessboard consisting of n2
unit squares. A configuration of n rooks on this board is peaceful if every row and every
column contains exactly one rook. Find the greatest positive integer k such that, for
each peaceful configuration of n rooks, there is a k k square which does not contain a
rook on any of its k 2 unit squares.
Problem 3. Convex quadrilateral ABCD has ABC = CDA = 90 . Point H is
the foot of the perpendicular from A to BD. Points S and T lie on sides AB and AD,
respectively, such that H lies inside triangle SCT and

CHS CSB = 90 , T HC DT C = 90 .

Prove that line BD is tangent to the circumcircle of triangle T SH.

1.2 Day 2
Problem 4. Let P and Q be on segment BC of an acute triangle ABC such that
P AB = BCA and CAQ = ABC. Let M and N be the points on AP and AQ,
respectively, such that P is the midpoint of AM and Q is the midpoint of AN . Prove
that the intersection of BM and CN is on the circumference of triangle ABC.
Problem 5. For every positive integer n, the Bank of Cape Town issues coins of
denomination n1 . Given a finite collection of such coins (of not necessarily different
denominations) with total value at most 99 + 12 , prove that it is possible to split this
collection into 100 or fewer groups, such that each group has total value at most 1.
Problem 6. A set of lines in the plane is in general position if no two are parallel and
no three pass through the same point. A set of lines in general position cuts the plane
into regions, some of which have finite area; we call these its finite regions. Prove that
for all sufficiently large n, in any set of n lines in general position it is possible to colour

at least n lines blue in such a way that none of its finite regions has a completely blue
boundary.

Note: Results with n replaced by c n will be awarded points depending on the value
of the constant c.

3
 2 Results
Taiwan ranks 3rd with a total of 192 and awards GGBBGG. One point ahead is the
United States, and with 203 points is China. This is one of the strongest results Taiwan
has obtained.
The cutoffs were 16 for Bronze, 22 for Silver, 29 for Gold.
Presented below are the full names and results of the Taiwan IMO team.

Name Code P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 Awards

Chao Ting-Wei TWN1 7 6 7 7 6 5 38 Gold, 7th
Chen Evan TWN2 7 7 7 7 7 1 36 Gold, 12th
Chen Po-Rui TWN3 7 5 0 7 2 0 21 Bronze, 163rd
Wu Pang-Cheng TWN4 7 6 0 7 0 0 20 Bronze, 200th
Wu Po-Sheng TWN5 7 7 7 7 7 7 42 Gold, 1st
Yu Hung-Hsun TWN6 7 7 7 7 7 0 35 Gold, 15th

Table 2.1: IMO Results for Taiwan 2014.

Roger Lin is team leader and Sen-Peng Eu is Observer A. John Meng Kai Hong is
deputy leader; Wen-Liang Hung and Cheng-Der Fuh are Observer Bs. My parents think
it is a good idea to crash the trip and are effectively Observer C during the last few days.
There are three perfect scores in total. Its reported that Po-Sheng is also the third
Taiwan student to obtain a perfect score.

2.1 Predicted Scores

For comparison, here are the rumors and claims that I picked up throughout the event.
Taiwan gave the following 0/7 binary estimates, excepting the last problem with the
strange markup scheme.

TWN1. 777773

TWN2. 777772

TWN3. 770700

TWN4. 770700

TWN5. 777777

TWN6. 777770

USA estimated 6, 6, 4 2, 6, 4, 2 +  solves on each of the problems. It seems that

Taiwan has had a superior performance on Problem 3, as China allegedly had fewer than
4 (I hear 3 somewhere and 2 from USA) and Vietnam also had 2.

4
3 Solutions and Contest Analysis
During the actual contest, I wrote my solutions in English. I could have written them in
Chinese if I wanted to, but writing in English makes the coordination faster, giving my
leader more time to coordinate the other solutions from my team.

3.1 Problem 1
Trivial enough that I wont bother writing it out. Basically if you assume that no such n
exists, then you get am < a0 +a1 ++a
m
m
for all m. But

a0 + + am a0 + a1 + (m 1)am
am <
m m
which breaks the strictly increasing condition. Then, once you find a minimal working n,
just show that no other n work.

3.2 Problem 2
 
The answer is n = k1 .
Its straightforward to show that if n m2 + 1 then we can find an empty m m
square; just consider a rook in the uppermost column and m squares below it; there are
at most m 1 other rooks.
Now for the construction for n = m2 . I wrote this out explicitly in my script but
basically its just this (thanks Brian Chen for the image).

To show that this works, consider for each rook drawing an m m square of Xs
whose bottom-right hand corner is the rook (these may go off the board). These indicate
positions where one cannot place the upper-left hand corner of any square. Its easy to

5
55th IMO 2014 3.3 Problem 3

see that these cover the entire board, except parts of the last m 1 columns, which dont
matter anyways.
Finally, to hit n m2 , just delete a row/column, and then if necessary place a rook in
the unique position that fills the gap.

3.3 Problem 3
A
T

P
O
S
B H D

First by angle chasing one can show that AT H = T CH + 90 , so the tangent to

(CHT ) at T is perpendicular to AD. Thus the circumcenter O of 4T CH lies on AD.
Let the perpendicular bisector of T H meet AH at P now. It suffices to show that PAP
H
is symmetric in b = AD and d = AB, because then P will be the circumcenter of 4T SH.
bd
To do this, set AH = 2R and AC = 2R. Use the Law of Cosines on 4ACO and 4AHO,
using variables x = AO and r = HO. We get that
d
r2 = x2 + AH 2 2x AH = x2 + (2R)2 2bx.
2R
r2
By the Angle Bisector Theorem, PAP AO
H = HO . Hence we just need to show x2
is symmetric
in b and d.
Notice that
d
r2 x2 = h2 2xh = (2R)2 2bx
2R
bd
where h = AH = 2R , whence
(2R)2 h2
x= d
.
2b 2h 2R
Moreover,
r2
   
1 1 2 2
1 = R b .
2 x2 x x
Now, if we plug in the x in the right-hand side of the above, we obtain
!
d d
2b 2h 2R 2b 2h 2R
 
2 2h d
2hdR + bh2 .


2 2 2 2
2R b = 2 2 2
bh
4R h 4R h (4R h ) 2R

Pulling out a factor of 2Rh from the rightmost term, we get something that is symmetric
in b and d, as required.

6
55th IMO 2014 3.4 Problem 4

3.4 Problem 4
Since P B = c2 /a we have P = (0 : a2 c2 : c2 ), so M = (a2 : : 2c2 ). Similarly
N = (a2 : 2b2 : ). Thus

BM CN = (a2 : 2b2 : 2c2 )

which clearly lies on the circumcircle.

3.5 Problem 5
1
Well prove the result for at most k 2 with k groups. First, perform the following
optimizations.

If any coin of size 1

2m appears twice, then replace it with a single coin of size 1
m.

If any coin of size 2m+1

1
appears 2m + 1 times, group it into a single group and
induct downwards.

Apply this operation repeatedly until it cannot be done anymore.

Now construct boxes B0 , B1 , . . . , Bk1 . In box B0 put any coins of size 12 (clearly
1 1
there is at most one). In the other boxes Bm , put coins of size 2m+1 and 2m+2 (at most
2m of the former and at most one of the latter). Note that the total weight in the box is
1
less than 1. Finally, place the remaining light coins of size at most 2k+1 in a pile.
Then just toss coins from the pile into the boxes arbitrarily, other than the proviso
that no box should have its weight exceed 1. We claim this uses up all coins in the pile.
Assume not, and that some coin remains in the pile when all the boxes are saturated.
1
Then all the boxes must have at least 1 2k+1 , meaning the total amount in the boxes
is strictly greater than  
1
k 1 > k 12
2k + 1
k
which is a contradiction. This gets a stronger bound k 2k+1 than the requested k 12 .
And dear IMO jury: THIS IS NOT A NUMBER THEORY PROBLEM.

3.6 Problem 6
1
Let c = (6e) 2 . Well show the bound c n.
The main core of the proof is the following lemma.

Lemma (Lovasz Local Lemma). Consider several events, each occurring with probability
at most p, such that each event is depends on at most d of the others. If

epd 1

then there is a nonzero probability that no events happen.

Split the n lines into c n groups of size cn each, arbitrarily. We are going to select
one line from each of the groups at random to be blue. For each of the regions R1 , R2 ,
. . . , Rm we will consider an event Ak meaning three of the lines bounding Rk are blue;
we designate these lines beforehand. We will show there is a nonzero probability that no
events occur.  3
The probability of Ak is clearly at most cn .

7
55th IMO 2014 3.7 Day 1 Contest Analysis

n
For each Rk , we have three groups to consider. Each group consists of c lines. Each
line is part of at most 2n 2 regions. Hence Ak depends on at most 3 cn (2n 2)
events.
Thus,
 
c 3
 
n
e 3 (2n 2) < 6ec2 = 1
n c
and we are done by LLL.

3.7 Day 1 Contest Analysis

I start with Problem 3 for the first ten minutes and lament the nonexistent diagram. I
dont get very far other than drawing an okay picture and figuring out that the tangent
to BD is just fancy for the circumcenter is on AH. I consider complex numbers but it
seems to messy. Thus I decide its a good time to use the restroom and get some water.
When I return I decide to begin working on #2, the combinatorics. I bash out the
cases for n = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 before deciding that this is getting annoying. During this
time I realize (by doing n = 5) that when n = m2 + 1 its trivial to find an m m bound.
At the time I dont think much of it and decide to go kill #1, because its been half an
hour and I feel like I should probably get something done. Basically I write the first thing
that comes to mind nicely, and it works, because of course it works, because its a #1. I
almost flip inequalities a bunch of times but after half an hour of scribbling and crossing
things out the problem is dead and Im like okay. This was in retrospect sub-optimal
and I should have looked at least one specific case. Not a big deal though, #1 is #1.
I then return to #2 and look at n = 5 again, musing that the bound k = 2 was quite
weak. Then I realize n = 4 has answer k = 1. Immediately I become convinced that
the answer was just n 1 and that the problem was merely finding the necessary
construction when n = m2 , because this was a #2 and rooks are weird so there are not
that many ways the problem can end. It takes about half an hour of fooling around
to find said configuration it is a helpful hint that the m2 m2 can be divided into a
bunch of m m sub-squares which each necessarily have a rook in them. Once I find the
configuration I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that I have two problems, the didnt
fail threshold. I now have three hours left to address the third question. I use this
opportunity to use the restroom again.
Since this is a #3 geometry I would like to be looking at a diagram for things to prove
are true, but the condition is really rather annoying. It takes me almost an hour to realize
that in fact the circumcenter of 4T CH lies on AD I finally realized this when blindly
angle chasing and looking for things that are cyclic when I noticed that the tangent to
(T CH) at T was a line perpendicular to AD. Suddenly I can actually draw the diagram.
Except at this point I have the urge to bash. Specifically, I just have to show that
the perpendicular bisector of HT meets AH in the same place, meaning I have to show
P H depends is symmetric in b, d, where P was the intersection. And FOR THE FIRST
TIME IN FOREVER, the Law of Cosines looks like a good option. Im hesitant to use it
since I have never ever used the Law of Cosines in an olympiad before, and the IMO is a
sub-optimal time to try a technique for the first time.
But it just looked too nice: let x = AO, h = AH, d = AB, b = AD, R = 12 AC, and
r = HO = CO = T O, where O is the circumcenter of 4T HC. Then
d b
r2 = h2 + x2 2xh = (2R)2 + x2 2(2R)h .
2R 2R

8
55th IMO 2014 3.8 Day 2 Contest Analysis
1
Here h = 2R bd. Subtracting the two equations cancels off the r2 and x2 , giving us a
linear equation to quickly find x.
I wasnt sure how to pin down P H, though. My first impression was to use x to
compute r, then find AT = x r, and then do some computations. I had planned to use
a homothety with ratio 2 at H to compute P 0 , the point on AH such that P 0 T H = 90 .
These computations quickly get hairy and I dont actually want to do them. Most

importantly, I really did not want to evaluate r.
I spend another 30-60 minutes slogging around rather lost, constantly wavering between
trying to find a better bash and going for the all-out slog with the time remaining, until
I finally realize that
AP AH x
= =
PH OH r
by the Angle Bisector Theorem. And so I just had to show this was symmetric, but
r2 (2R)2 2bh
2
=1+ .
x x2 x
You can tell by looking now that this should be really direct to compute. It shouldnt
take more than 15 minutes by any contestant in the room, and shouldnt take more than
10 for a seasoned basher like me. But the pressure of the IMO sets in around now, and I
repeatedly miscomputed for the next while.
Sitting at the edge of getting an IMO3, I become so nervous that I begin visibly shaking.
I have around 70-90 minutes left, which I tell myself is more than enough. I go to use
the bathroom and come back no longer shaking standing up does wonders for this sort
of thing. I then re-start the bash from scratch and finish in 10 minutes.
Well. . . done with the IMO an hour early. What do you know?
I consider walking out early since I probably will never have a chance to say I walked
out of the IMO early ever again, but decide against it since its a rather mean to the
other contestants. I neatly collate my solutions and the scratch work into the problem
folders. It probably was not necessary to include my failed diagrams and random wrong
calculations in #3, or any of the other problems for that matter, but I did it just in case
anyways. This inflated my four-page solution to #3 to seventeen pages of script.
I eat a little bit of chocolate and then decide its an excellent time to start drawing
random pictures to add to the end of my solutions. I draw a scene of a large chessboard
with rooks and peace signs hanging out in distinct rows and columns, and then another
picture of a dinosaur labelled a2014 chasing after some other terms of the sequence (an ),
and so on. One of the invigilators notices me doing this and laughs.
Well, whatever. Just have to stay calm for Day 2.

3.8 Day 2 Contest Analysis

First I incinerate #4 with barycentric coordinates. Cool.
Then I get stuck on #5 for three hours. It is really very slippery; there are too many
things to try that do not work. The greedy algorithm in fact fails if applied directly
and some optimization is needed. I begin the problem with an optimization of switching
1 1
km k with m , limiting the number of times each coin appears, and in particular making
even-numbered coins appear at most once. I also remove any 1s that show up as this
occurs, since one can just induct down (99 is just a random number, clearly. . . ). But it
takes forever and a half until I find the construction; I finally noticed it while staring at
the row of numbers
1 1 1 1 1
2 4 ...
2 3 4 5 6

9
55th IMO 2014 3.8 Day 2 Contest Analysis
1
and realizing I could get k bins and a bunch of small 2k coins. I had been playing with
1
the 2k coins idea but had approached it from the wrong angle of a stronger induction
hypothesis.
So anyways I end up with just about an hour for the final problem. Miraculously
fooling around with LLL gets me a c > 0. Well. Okay.
GCCed again!

10
4 Diary of Events
4.1 July 5 The Airplane Ride
Im designated the official camera-wielder for the trip based on my prolific picture-taking
during the camps.

Image 4.1: Inaugural camera photo.

Over the ride to the IMO, we take great pleasure in discussing inequalities:

SOS

(The Chinese equivalent of bash is , which means bomb, so we were mostly

making fun of airport security).
I mostly sleep through both plane rides. CBD spends the time watching Black Bullet,
which I made the mistake of almost finishing the couple days before the trip; this
probably explains why I slept as much as I did. During the layover at Singapore we see
the China, Japan, Philippine, and Singapore teams, and get pictures with the former
two. I remember distinctly that during the picture with the China, one of the Taiwan
members told another that picture-taking is part of the international experience, to
which one of the Chinese team members joked you mean intra-national, right?. Most
of us (including me) laugh it off but it surprised me how politics was still well and alive
here.
Im also amused by a large T2 terminal number that shows up.

4.2 July 6 Arrival

We arrive at the Cape Town airport and Ting-Wei immediately tries to obtain Wi-Fi.
I am highly amused to find that the Wi-Fi registration requires email confirmation.
Someone has clearly never read Catch-22.

11
55th IMO 2014 4.2 July 6 Arrival

Image 4.2: The Titu Terminal.

After passing customs are greeted by Amelia, our guide for the duration of the IMO. It
is odd to hear someone speaking English for the first time in roughly a month. The rest
of Taiwan tries to communicate to Amelia in rather broken English. I become designated
as the official translator for the team.
After a wait and the purchasing of several adapters, we board a bus. During the
bus ride, Ting-Wei and Hung-Hsun have a good time trolling some of the other bus
contestants with the following problems: fill in the blanks to form a math term.

1. *a*a*a*a

2. *i*i*i*i*i**

They seem impressed when the Italian team responds within ten minutes.

Image 4.3: People work on filling in blanks.

Another wait rewards us with several hats, a jacket, and a bag with goodies inside.
We then head over to get back to our dorms, hoping for the promised WiFi, as none of
us have had Internet for many several hours. Our deputy leader tells us to be back by
12:40PM to go to lunch.
Its at this point that we get the first logistical troubles. We get shoved into a small
lobby with some other teams, and an imbecile is at a desk handing out keys. The imbecile
has two lists and insists to our tour guide that we are not in this building because we
are not one one of this lists, even though we are clearly on the other list, designated in

12
55th IMO 2014 4.2 July 6 Arrival

Rooms 401-406, and the keys are lying on the table. Nonetheless he refuses to give us
the keys. Amelia calls for someone who is apparently a superior in the IMO organization
hierarchy, who comes and basically tells the imbecile he is an idiot and to give us our
keys. Unfortunately said superior takes his time to arrive, and so by the time the imbecile
hands us the keys it was 12:45. We hurry to our rooms, drop off our luggage, and rush
down to find that Dr. Hong is already waiting for us downstairs.

Image 4.4: My mess in Room 402.

After a totally forgettable lunch, we head with Dr. Hong and Dr. Hung to our rooms
to properly asses the situation. On the way back I briefly run into the Brazil team and
wave to Victor Reis. Upon returning to the dorm and beginning a proper observation,

(i) The rooms are in fact unheated, and only a single sheet has been provided.

(ii) None of the African adapters we brought work, and moreover the adapters we
purchased at the airport successfully fit the Cape Town outlets on one end, but on
the other end only accept European plugs. However, some of the Africa adapters
we brought fit in the airport adapters, and so after much confusion the power issue
is resolved in Room 406. As Room 406 is for some reason larger than the other
rooms, we agree to all hang out in Room 406 whenever necessary.

(iii) There is no source of drinking water.

(iv) We cannot access WiFi (at least for the moment).

Its also the case that the restrooms are external, like several college dorms. There is a
sink inside though, but the sink has two faucets, one which only dispenses hot water and
one which only dispenses cold water. I bitterly remember that I will soon be stuck in a
dorm in Boston as well.
Amelia goes to help us figure out the situation with the sheets. Meanwhile, I am able
to set up the adapters in my own room using toys that my dad had left me, and leave
my tablet and phone charging. By this point it is about 2PM. Po-Sheng indicates that
last year the dorm situation was not this dismal.
CBD, Hung-Hsun, and Ting-Wei leave to obtain things for the supermarket with the
teachers while the remaining IMO contestants take a break in TWN6s room. I join them
with my laptop (gradually running out of battery) and type the first part of this report,
while the Po-Sheng and Pang-Cheng play Candy Crush. I then resort to playing Solitaire
to pass the time.

13
55th IMO 2014 4.3 July 7 The Opening Ceremony

The next several hours pass uneventfully, mostly consisting of me playing Solitaire
while the rest of the Taiwan team either does problems or plays Candy Crush. On the
trip to dinner I run into a couple of people briefly, namely the USA team, the Canada
team, Livio Fetahu, and Victor Reis again. The Canada team mentions their tap water
is somewhat brown.
I finally manage to hijack Internet by borrowing a laptop plugged into a wired network
and repeatedly ignoring password prompts, so I respond to a buildup of emails and
reminiscence of my times at MOP while the other contestants play Mao. Finally at
around 9PM our savior Amelia arrives with some rather thick blankets and tells us there
is a game room in the lobby that most of the other contestants are hanging out at. I
resolve to check it out thoroughly the next day. However, by this time I decide to retire
to sleep.

4.3 July 7 The Opening Ceremony

I had planned to take a shower once the sun before we left for breakfast at 6:40AM, but
find out the hard way that the sun does not in fact rise until after 7AM. So much for my
shower. Fortunately the bed had turned out to be sufficiently warm enough under three
layers of thick blankets while wearing sweatpants and my MIT jacket.
For breakfast I grab some muffin, cheese, and a bowl of cereal to which I add sugar.
After we eat breakfast, Amelia tells us that we will be going on a brief excursion at
9:00AM. We decide to play some cards until excursion time. Initially, Ting-Wei and
Po-Sheng play an idiotic version of Yu-Gi-Oh crafted with playing cards. We then decide
to play less stupid games. I am surprised to find that the rest of the Taiwan team in fact
knows how to play Napoleon, albeit with the following modifications:

The two Jokers are included, one low Joker and one high Joker. They serve similar
functions to the Secretary Card, in that they can be played at any time, are
considered their own suit, and are higher than any other cards (other than the Sec
card). However, they lose their powers after the first seven tricks.

As a result of the Jokers, the baggage now contains four cards.

The bids include the trump suit, in the style of Bridge. It is permissible to change
the trump suit after seeing the Baggage at the cost of increasing the bid by 1.

We also play Bridge and Big Two.

Our excursion takes us up to the top of a mountain, where I run into team USA again
and converse with them about the Shortlist. Evidently they felt that A6 was easy. Oops.
Its mentioned that Kevin Sun almost won Black MOP until he zerod a day of the mock
IMO consisting of G2, A4, C6, which ironically I considered among the easiest problems
in their corresponding categories. The road to said mountain is quite steep and I nearly
trip several times.
We were planning to visit the city of Cape Town after the mountain, but the long waits
for buses to take us to various places throughout the campus lead us to decide to drop
this part of the journey. Instead, Amelia takes us to the site of the contest tomorrow a
single large unheated gymnasium. Seeing as there will be on the order of 500 students
placed in one building tomorrow, I no longer feel concerned about it being too cold.
Afterwards we return to the dining hall for lunch. Unlike the first dinner, the silverware
has been properly prepared this time. Moreover, we find that the butter is no longer
wrapped but placed on a plastic-wrapped plate in chunks, meaning that CBD will not

14
55th IMO 2014 4.3 July 7 The Opening Ceremony

Image 4.5: Near the top of the mountain.

mistake it for chocolate again. I take a tuna pasta dish. After lunch we have a few hours
to kill until the Opening Ceremony, so we play some games of Memory with the entire
54-card deck, which turns out to be very challenging, unless you happen to be the last
player to move which essentially gives you five or six pairs. Then I teach the game Nertz,
before the others decide its a good idea to do more ELMO shortlist geometry. Im not
in the mood for problems so I take out my laptop and update my diary up to that point.
The opening ceremony involves another bus ride quite unfortunate because the buses
are clearly too small and we often have to wait for a long period of time followed
by waiting outside in the cold for approximately an hour. During this time we grab a
picture with the Hong Kong team, and witness a parade of team leaders who wave back
towards the contestants. The team leaders are quarantined from us until after the second
day of the exam, so we will likely not see them again until then. Ting-Wei remarks
enthusiastically that Sen-Peng Eu and Roger Lin appear to be smiling, which means that
we will do well.

Image 4.6: Hong Kong and Taiwan teams.

For some reason the teams are gradually entered into the auditorium one by one; we
are around 54th, just before South Africa, so we enjoy some shivering in the cold for a
while (about an hour) before we actually enter. Quite unfortunately, we end up in the
second-to-last row of the auditorium, where row refers to the rows of folding chairs
that were set up, making it quite impossible to actually see the stage.
The opening ceremony begins at 5:15 PM (15 minutes late) with the national anthem,

15
55th IMO 2014 4.3 July 7 The Opening Ceremony

which is surprisingly long for a national anthem. Then, the Vice Chancellor of the
University of Cape Town (where the contest is hosted) makes a speech about how this is
the first time that the IMO has been held in Africa. He then goes on to make an Africa
is not actually bad at math despite what you might think style speech, going as far as
to show us geological excavations which found a bone with 30 marks for counting the
days, and something else with parallel scratches on it, or something like that. The rest
of the Taiwan team doesnt actually understand what he is saying, meaning they are
probably less bored than I am.
Similarly the minister of education makes his share of comments. I no longer remember
what they are because around this point a couple of birds decide to fly in through the
back entrance and begin chirping, which thankfully provides some relief to speeches. We
then get a speech from someone from the Department of Roads (?) which I also no longer
remember.
Subsequently, each of the countries goes up on the stage in the standard ritual, starting
with Romania and proceeding in the order that the countries joined the IMO. I end up
translating a lot of the country names for CBD, who is sitting next to me. The countries
mostly stand and wave their flags, but some throw out goodies and one does a dance on
the way. A few countries have only one contestant, and the crowd gives massive applause
to such countries (Im not sure why).
In Taiwans turn, we simply walk across the stage holding the flag. We are then
immediately followed by South Africa, and the host country makes a huge spectacle out
of this with a band of percussion instruments for the next 20 minutes. Thankfully this is
the one time that we are in the front, having just gotten off the stage, so I can actually
see what is happening. The rhino from the airport joins the South African team in the
parade. Meanwhile, near the top of the ceiling
some math formulae are projected. I am
dismayed to see the use of n Ck instead of nk .

Image 4.7: Taiwan at the opening ceremony.

After that we have the stage-walk for all the countries that joined after South Africa.
We discover that the later a country joins, the more difficulty CBD has figuring out
what the Chinese translation for that countrys name is. We then have a performance
from some (literal) clowns, including a rather hilarious scene where two contestants
(volunteers) of opposite genders are selected to go on the stage and placed in rather
awkward situations. I feel sorry for the volunteers.
Finally, at the end of the opening ceremony the organizers try to take a group picture
in the auditorium from the balcony. Considering the number of contestants, this goes
about as well as you might think it would. By the time the ceremony ends, it is 7:30

16
55th IMO 2014 4.4 July 8 IMO Day 1

PM, rather than the scheduled 7PM. Unfortunately, this is not good news in terms of
dinner, which only lasts from 7PM to 9PM. Everyone rushes back, but as usual the buses
are too few in number and most people end up waiting for the next bus to come. The
Taiwan decides to just forgo the bus and take the 15-minute walk back to the dorms.
Needless to stay, roughly thirty seconds after we step out of line for the bus, another two
completely empty buses arrive.
By the time we get back at 8PM the dining hall is intolerably crowded. The line moves
quickly enough, but with everyone coming in at once the hall quickly run out of seats.
About four or five teams form a circle on the ground of the east half to eat their meal
while the nearby Canada team simply eats standing. The Taiwan team stands in the
west half, and fortunately about 10 minutes in the Ecuador team generously gives us
their table as they are about to leave.
Posting dinner we finally obtain Wi-Fi credentials which have been posted in the deputy
leaders dorm as well as our own. It is now almost 9PM, and everyone is exhausted, so
this time the entire team decides to not shower. We also decide that taking a shower is
far too cold and agree to simply not shower until after the test, lest we fall ill just in
time for the contest. Thus everyone retires to sleep.

4.4 July 8 IMO Day 1

After an early breakfast we are shipped on the ever-inefficient buses to the examination
room. I make the wise decision to stand near the staircase meaning we and the Canadians
are the first to enter. The room consists of six blocks, three blocks in each hall.

Image 4.8: Testing room.

Amusingly, they decide to place curtains between the two halls, leading me to joke
that now we can only cheat off half the people. Per the code TWN2, I am placed in
Block 2. The instructions claim that the back of our name tags specify where in the
block we should be, but this is false; the back of our name tags are blank.
We were told to bring our contest materials in a provided transparent plastic bag.
Unfortunately, said bag is not actually large enough to fit a compass, ruler, or a jacket,
so I have to hand-carry a lot of things.
Anyways, the contest itself proceeds smoothly logistically. We start abruptly (i.e. with
no warning) a few minutes before 9AM, with a strange rule that we made read the
problems but not write anything until 9AM. The contest folder contains a copy of the
problems, a folder to place the answer sheets for each problem, ten blank answer sheets,
and a series of cards used to call the attention of the invigilators:

17
55th IMO 2014 4.4 July 8 IMO Day 1

The white card is used to request an additional five sheets of paper.

The blue card is used to request a bottle of water.

The green card is used to request a bathroom trip.

The orange card is used for sending questions to the jury.

The red card is used to leave early and/or get other help.

Despite feeling cold before the test, I immediately shed my jacket once the test begins.
Overall things run pretty smoothly. We start and end on time and nothing appears to
go wrong, which I consider a small miracle knowing first-hand that something always
goes wrong. I solve all three problems. Details of the actual contest sitting are in the
contest analysis.
After the test I discover that three other contestants on the Taiwan team have aced
the first day. The remaining have solved IMO1 and IMO2. The consensus seems to be
that IMO1 and IMO2 were quite easy this year and IMO3 was a medium-hard problem.
The USA team has gotten trolled by IMO3, claiming only two complete solutions and a
potential 5+ partial.
During discussions at lunch it seems that the Taiwan score today is very high relative
to many of the other strong teams. Later we speculated that China probably aced the
first day completely. We would also later hear that Japan and Vietnam perform about
the same as USA.
We return after Day 1 to the dorms, and as usual get on our laptops and start
typing random things. Pang-Cheng takes the time to try and verify some conjectures on
GeoGebra that he submitted for problem 3; it turns out they were both correct. I take
the time to check out the game room, where I meet the Isarel and Hungary team and
join them in a game of Coup, a surprisingly fun game of deception and politics.
When I return to the central room 406, I find that CBD has gone to sleep and Ting-Wei
is somewhere else. A couple moments later Ting-Wei comes complaining of a severe
headache. By severe I mean he is moaning in pain and Im afraid that it wont go away.
Our efforts to call our deputy leader fail. As a result I travel to Baxter directly in search
of them, but end up bothering one of the Observer Bs in an adjacent room. At the very
least, I obtain the room number of Dr. Hong in case anything else happens in the future.
On the way there I notice the room outside Baxter has a piano which one of the
Canadian contestants is playing , which breaks my heart as I had heard this from
the Chinese Singing Troupe. Later when I find a chance I return to play on the piano, to
discover that the keys are incredibly light, making it suitable for my Chopin and Ravel
but not for my Guilty Crown. On the way back I see several teams playing soccer on the
field outside. I wonder where most of the other teams are.
When I get back Ting-Wei is feeling infinitely better, insisting that all it took was to
dress slightly warmer. We proceed on the way to dinner, except CBD accidentally locks
himself out of his room and we are forced to get the master key. The guy in the lobby
uses Google Translate to tell us there is a R30 fine (roughly 3USD) for this. Dr. Hung
later reports that he did not have a similar fine.
In light of the crowding, our meal venue has been changed to Baxter. We grab dinner
and hilariously run into a table which has the board to problem 2 set up using butter
and silverware.
Finally it is late and we head back to 406. I type at my report while the others play
Mao. CBD and I then go online searching for the Black Bullet theme, to little avail as

18
55th IMO 2014 4.5 July 9 IMO Day 2

Image 4.9: Someone solves Problem 2 for n = 4.

the Internet in 406 is quite shady. Im not sure why; my room 402 seems much more
reliable in terms of connectivity.
I end up sleeping too late, at around 10PM.

4.5 July 9 IMO Day 2

We begin the morning by singing modified versions of the alphabet song, and agree that
any song should contain the words CBD and .
At breakfast the person standing guard at the door becomes very confused, because
she has evidently not informed that certain teams were moved to Baxter and insists
we should be at Leo. Nonetheless we manage to get through after some minutes of
negotiation.
Then, the actual IMO takes place.

Image 4.10: Just before Day 2.

Once again the invigilators run the contest smoothly. The contest itself has a weird
point the note in problem 6 specifies that proving the bound for other values of c merits
partial credit. I ask to clarify the maximum points obtained for proving a weaker value for

c, but inadvertently I have misread the question as n/c instead of c n. Consequently
my query of c > 1 leads the jury to some confusion, and the reply is merely 7. The
jury is a troll.

19
55th IMO 2014 4.5 July 9 IMO Day 2

I leave the contest with two problems solved, and in somewhat of a state of despair at
having had to face two combinatorics problems on the same day. (In USAMO 2013, Day
1 was also GCC, and my poor performance on that day had cost me USA IMO slots for
both 2013 and 2014.)
After the contest and lunch I visit the games room to see if anything of interest is
happening. I sit down for a game of chess with UGA3, playing as black. The game takes
a while, but I effectively win once I manage to trap his rook. To my left several people
are playing Mao for the first time. It is quite a spectacle.
I return to find that I have failed to lock my door upon leaving. Fortunately, nothing
appears to have been taken. I muse that the lock system is quite antiquated. I join the
others for Big Two in Room 406, being dealt rather unfortunate hands, though I do win
once going off a straight to 6.
At around 4PM we meet with our team leader again to prepare for coordination.
Problems two, four, six will be coordinated tomorrow in that order, followed by problems
five, three, and one. Evidently the rubric for #1 used to specify deducting one point for
not proving that a strictly increasing integer sequence is unbounded (namely, you must
mention integers), but it appears this was removed from the rubric, thankfully for me.
Some other contestants may lose a point for not explicitly checking a0 < a0 + a1 as the
n = 1 base case. Our team leader confides to us that in fact #5 was N, much to my
dismay. We also hear that China only has three solves on yesterdays geometry.
We discuss what we have done on the problems briefly with our leader, who then sends
us back to our rooms and asks us to write up solution sketches to #2, #3, #5, and #6,
in preparation for coordination tomorrow. I opt to type up the solutions as this takes
considerably less time and gives more detail. The result is Chapter 3.
We reconvene at dinner and discuss coordination further. I am applauded for the
pictures I submitted at Day 1. Roger Lin also mentions standing in line with the two
idiot questions that Ting-Wei and I had submitted to the jury. Ting-Wei was trolling, I
made an honest mistake, as I noted earlier. I hope the jury was amused.
Sen-Peng Eu also mentions that the smiles that Ting-Wei had seen earlier were
bitter smiles () of despair.
After dinner we return and I try to type up my diary of events, but am shortly
interrupted to go to the war room and discuss my solution to #6. My case does not
take very long, it is merely briefly outlining the solution again, and mentioning that while

my typo of n/c in lieu of c n should hopefully not lose a point, it may result in my 2
becoming a 1. I will be quite sad if that happens. My leaders assure me they will fight
for this second point if necessary, which they think I deserve (as do I).
During this time I also get to see the rubric for #6, which specifies that

Proving 3 n (hence c = 0) is worth 1
Proving any c > 0 is worth 2 .
1
Proving c = 2 2 is worth 3
1
Proving 2 2 < c < 1 is worth 4 , and
Proving c = 1 is of course worth the usual 7 .
On the way back I run into the USA team, modulo Josh Brakensiek. We discuss about
the IMO and a lot of things in general, including a robust problem.
Problem (China TST 2006). For a positive integer M , if there exist integers a, b, c and
d so that:
M a b < c d M + 49, ad = bc

20
55th IMO 2014 4.6 July 10 Excursion

then we call M a GOOD number, if not then M is BAD. Please find the greatest GOOD
number and the smallest BAD number.
Solution: bash.
During this time I run into AUS1 Alex Gunning, who claims to have solved all six
problems. This is the first six-problem claim Ive heard other than TWN5 Po-Sheng
Wu. Surprisingly, I find myself quite happy for him. It is a great feeling to solve all six
problems at the IMO and Alex is all smiles.
The USA team heads up to the 10th floor of Leo, where Canada is apparently housed.
We invade Alex Whatleys room, and Sammy tries to fly some games of Mafia. The first
one ends in Jester getting lynched (nice job Yang). In the second game, Cupid pairs
Kevin Sun and Mark Sellke, because of course they would get paired. Kevin turns out to
be Night Vigilante and Mark Sellke turns out to be Doctor. The result is quite hilarious:
On the first night Mark heals himself when Kevin tries to vig (kill) him, and on the
second night Mark heals Kevin when he tries to vig himself.

Image 4.11: Kevin Sun.

Afterwards I retire for the night, preparing for the excursion tomorrow. The Ukraine
team passes by my room and for the first time I realize they are in fact our neighbors on
the fourth floor.

4.6 July 10 Excursion

As I prepare to leave in the morning for excursion, I discover that my Taiwan IMO jacket
is missing. I must have lost it on the way back from IMO Day 2. I am really good at
this life thing. . . I hope it turns up soon. This leaves me in a sour mood for the rest of
the morning.
While coordination happens today, the contestants are farmed into a large group of
buses. We are placed in Bus 10, with a tour guide Greg; a total of 42 people are placed
on the bus. Some things Greg mentions to us:
Do not mention to any South Africans that they sound like an Australian.
Traffic lights are known as robots.
The South Africans drive on the left side of the street as a result of the British
annexation.
Stay on this bus even though you might have friends or are attracted to someone
on another bus.

21
55th IMO 2014 4.6 July 10 Excursion

We visit the Newlands and Chapmans Peak initially. I take pictures en masse at all
of the stops; the scenery is truly gorgeous. We also pass a long beach named Long Beach
and a sunny valley named Sun Valley. Greg mentions a large incidence of shark attacks
on Long Beach. We also pass through Table Mountain National Park, the home of a
large number of African penguins. Time passes very quickly while we observe them. On
the way back we again poke fun at a certain AG, translated as almost gold, almost
girl, a girl, and then absolutely girl.

Image 4.12: Some views of the scenery.

Image 4.13: African penguins.

For lunch we stop by a small location called Ocean View. It is the result of forced
relocation during the apartheid in South Africa some years ago. The lunch distribution is
a logistical fiasco, having several hundred contestants placed in a small room getting food
more or less simultaneously. The Ocean View organizers also present some entertainment
in the form of songs and dances, some of which are largely ignored. I do confess that I
enjoyed the singing of Set Fire to the Rain and Because You Loved Me.
I end up napping on the bus ride after lunch, but I think I wake up more tired than
before.
Our next stop on the road is near Cape Point, which evidently is in fact not the meeting
point of the two oceans. We first stop for 10 minutes by a beach, where I continue taking
pictures and laugh a couple of the contestants try to skip rocks at the beach. Perhaps
boulders is more accurate than rocks.

22
55th IMO 2014 4.7 July 11 Lecture Series

We then take the bus towards the summit. Pang-Cheng plays Xiangqi on his phone,
and I resolve to also download the game on my tablet when I get home later.
Finally we arrive near the top of Cape Point. We are given about 50 minutes to enjoy
the location. The Taiwan team takes the climb to the very top, next to the lighthouse.
This climb is worth it the view is magnificent. I take a moment to reflect just how far
mathematical olympiads have taken me; it breaks my heart that the journey will soon be
over.

Image 4.14: The view from the lighthouse.

At the lighthouse I notice that one of the contestants is wearing an MIT shirt. After
quickly asking I find that she is also going to Boston next fall. All roads lead to MIT.
Ting-Wei buys a penguin from the gift store, saying that it is useful for poking CBD.
We then embark on the 90-minute return trip in the bus, in which I mostly daydream
and pray that I do not get docked the point on #6. Upon returning and meeting up with
the leaders for dinner, I find that I did in fact lose the point. This puts my score at less
than or equal to 7 5 + 1 = 36; I imagine that equality will occur. I complain loudly that
my score is not a prime.
Near the dorms is taped a sign that Po-Shen will be giving an informal talk on Problem
6 tomorrow, entitled c > 1. I resolve to attend this tomorrow. The Taiwan team sits
down to watch anime, but as usual I cannot understand the Chinese subs anyways. I
retreat to my room and begin adding various IMO contestants on Facebook, mostly
looking through Geoff Smiths friend list for people with mutual friends. Then, I catch
up on my diary, which I am somewhat behind on.

4.7 July 11 Lecture Series

For some reason everyone on the team wakes up later than usual today. We fail to leave
for breakfast until 7:30 AM. At breakfast our leader comments that the speaker at the
lecture series today is very famous, and encourages us to attend the lecture. I finish
breakfast bit early and move just outside the restaurant to play Titanic on the piano.
This draws the attention of a lot of the people running the dining hall, who ask me to
play once again for a recording, which I do, albeit somewhat embarrassed. I make a
mental note to myself that people really love the Titanic theme.
It turns out there are in fact three lectures. They are held in Baxter Theater, which is
very close to our dorms. (Somehow we are misinformed that we needed to take a bus
there.) The first lecture, called Shooting Cannons at Sparrows, which discusses an
elementary problem which is open, but has been resolved partially using advanced tools.

23
55th IMO 2014 4.7 July 11 Lecture Series

Problem. Please prove that for any integer n and any convex polygon it is possible to
dissect the polygon into n convex pieces with equal area and perimeter.

He then goes to show that the case n = 2 is elementary, then discusses a method for
solving the general case. Its mentioned that the IVT used in n = 2 is a special case of
the Borsuk-Ulam Theorem. In short, given a counterexample polygon P , one considers
the following series of maps:

F (2, n) F R2n , n EAP (P, n) S n2 .

Here is the explanation. Using a certain theorem, one can show that
given any collection
2
of points (i.e. any n-subset of R , which is the term F R 2n , n ), one can assign them
weights in a unique manner to generate an equal-area partition. Thus we can consider
the set of equal-area partitions EAP (P, n). Each of these gives a set of perimeters
hp1 , p2 , . . . , pn i. If all of them are not equal vectors, then we can map these to

hp1 p, p2 p, . . . , pn pi

where p = n1 (p1 + + pn ). This then normalizes to a vector on the
sphere S n2 .

Now EAP (P, n) is not terribly well-understood, but F R2n , n is. In particular,
there is a more finite space F (2, n) which maps into it; this is something about cells and
permutohedrons or something. So by assuming a counterexample P exists, we find a
map F (2, n) S n2 . It turns out that at each of the steps the map is equivariant with
respect to the permutation group on n elements. For example, at n = 2, S n2 = S 0 is
two points, designating whether hp1 , p2 i has p1 > p2 or p1 < p2 , and swapping p1 and p2
leads to the opposite point on S 0 .

Image 4.15: Shooting cannons at sparrows.

Thus this creates a continuous map F (2, n) n2

PSn1 nwhich

is equivariant. However, it
can be shown that this map exists if and only if k=1 k xk = 1 has an integer solution.
This is in turn equivalent to n not being a prime power. Thus this solves the original
problem when n is a prime power.
In the title, the sparrow refers to the problem above, which looks like an olympiad
problem, while cannons refers the modern weapons that were used against it. I prefer
the term bazooka.
The lecturer uses quite cool mathematics and I manage to grasp the basic line of attack.
But while the math was quite interesting, I find the delivery rather slow and not terribly
interesting. I would have preferred to just read the slides. The rest of the Taiwan team

24
55th IMO 2014 4.7 July 11 Lecture Series

reports difficulty in following the English. I suspect the Japan team next to us has the
same issue as 23 of them are asleep by the end of the lecture. As a result, we decide not
to attend the following lecture on mathematical physics and cosmology, and return to
our dorm for a while. There seems to be some interesting in the upcoming NT lecture,
however.
While waiting for the NT lecture we get ambushed by housecleaning services, which
replaces our linens and towels, among other things. A few minutes later we realize we are
actually late for the lecture and the Taiwan team opts to ditch. I suspect that Apollonian
circle packing is going to be similar to one of Palmers CHMMC power rounds anyways,
so at least I dont miss out on too much. I do in fact go over and see if the lecture still
has open doors, but it does not.
At around noon, Po-Sheng and Pang-Cheng and I decide that it is time to get lunch;
the rest of the Taiwan team decides to continue watching anime, which as usual I still
cannot understand. As was bound to happen eventually, it is around this time that I
manage to get myself locked out. However, I manage to evade the fee of R30 by asking
the housecleaning on the adjacent floor to unlock the door for me. This was quite happy.
At lunch we run into our team leader who gives us the scores for #3 and #5. No on
has lost any partial on #3, but no one has gotten any either. Well, things could have
been a lot worse. We have lost a few bits on #5, much to my annoyance. However, we
expect to lose at most 1 point on #1, meaning our score is more or less fixed at 192 .
At this point, Dr. Hong gives me his Taiwan IMO jacket, for which I am very grateful
and would like to acknowledge him here.
We also receive the copies of the problems for TWN2 and TWN6 that were used in
coordination. I now have regained possession of all my contest papers. I look forward to
receiving my contest folder, if that ever happens.
I try to find some company as the Taiwan team is still busy watching anime, so I
go find Baxter. I run into Razvan Gelca at this point and we chat for a bit about the
problems and coordination. It seems like Razvan is quite fond with the Problem 3 at
this years IMO, as the students have found many different solutions.
I again drop by the Games Room and run into Livio Fetahu and Farrell Wu, and we
talk extensively about the IMO and other olympiad things. I then, as promised, show
them on my laptop the current draft of my geometry textbook. I must have bored them
halfway through because they leave quickly when I finish. The Taiwan team is still
watching anime, so now I head up to the 10th floor and visit the Canadian team. Alex
Whatley lets me into his room, where they are playing a game and trying to defeat some
snow creature with around 35000 HP before it makes it all the way across the screen.
They fail by 1 HP. I comment that this does not bode well for medal cutoffs.
Kevin Sun tries to enter the room, but Alex Whatley refuses to allow him in, on the
basis that the previous three occasions in which Kevin entered, the first led to Kevin
stealing his charger, and the other two led to the entire US team rushing inside.
However, at this point a large number of projected scores materialize. Antonio Molina
from Canada has evidently taken photos of the current coordinated scores, and has
assembled them in a spreadsheet and is trying to determine the range of ranks that
Canada might obtain. I ask for a copy of the spreadsheet as well, and return to the
Taiwan team to discuss what our ranking might look like this year. I insist we are
presumably top five. Our deputy leader then arrives and informs us that we are almost
certainly placed third, modulo the Russians. As it turns out, the Russians will trail us by
only one point. The large screen with the scores on the first floor of Leo then becomes
updated with the most recent standings and so we now have near-complete information,
modulo the bulleted scores that arise each year.

25
55th IMO 2014 4.7 July 11 Lecture Series

Image 4.16: Team Canada losing a game.

At this point I think I lock myself out again. It actually turns out that my key was
being sat on by a pillow in Room 406. There went the first R30 that I spent at the IMO.
It is now approaching 7PM, and the entire Taiwan team plus observers now takes a
trip to the Conservatory for a fancy dinner at a restaurant called the Conservatory. The
car ride there is somewhat long, and is disorienting because the drivers are driving on the
left side of the road. We arrive and take several pictures, and are handed some plaque.
As I find the drinking age is 18, I take my first sample of red wine. It is so bitter I do
not touch it again. Meanwhile we enjoy stealing flatbread from TWN6.
The dinner takes a large amount of time, and eventually Po-Sheng falls asleep completely.
By the time we load onto the car everyone is either asleep or half-asleep. It is around
9PM, so this does not bode well for the 10PM talk that Po-Shen Loh has on c > 1.
In the end only Po-Sheng and I attend Po-Shens talk. Unfortunately, the jury meeting
with the leaders is delayed, so in fact Po does not arrive until around 10:40PM. During
this time, the official results appear on imo-official, and the crowd explodes in a frenzy
of phones as we check results. I find that my score of 36 has won me 12th place, and
more importantly, is strictly higher than all the scores of the US team members. I
have accomplished one goal for this IMO. Moreover, Po-Shengs perfect score has been
confirmed. I then chat with the US team and Alice from Hong Kong about various things
until Po arrives.
The talk is ridiculous. Let me see how much of it I can still sketch. First, Po recaps
the short solution to this years IMO6.
Secondly, he presents the following proposition.

Proposition. Given a graph G with maximal degree there is an independent set of

n
size at least +1 .

One can derive the following as a result.

Proposition. Given a graph G with average degree d there is an independent set of size
at least cn
d for some c > 0.

The proof is to simply note that at least half the vertices have degree at most 2d, and
apply the original proposition. Po also presents the probabilistic proof, which uses a
ridiculous trick called sparsification.

Proof. Consider a coin flip p used to pick each vertex. The EV of the number of vertices,
X is np. The EV of the number of bad edges, Y , is 21 nd p2 (here 12 nd is the number

26
55th IMO 2014 4.7 July 11 Lecture Series

Image 4.17: Po-Shen solves the IMO problem.

of edges). Now we delete a vertex from each bad edge, so the EV of the remaining thing
is E[X Y ]. Pick a value of p to obtain the result.

Next, we observe a theorem.

Theorem (Ajtai-Komlos-Szemeredi). Given a triangle-free graph G with average degree

d, we can find an independent set with size at least cnd1 log d.

Alon & Spencer has an elementary proof, but it is very tricky.

Then, we consider hypergraphs. It turns out the following hard theorem exists.

Theorem (Duke-Lefmann-R odl). Given a hypergraph G with N vertices and with edges
all of size 3, suppose that for any two vertices atmost one edge joins them. Then we can
find an independent set with size at least c Nd log d.

In the context of the IMO problem, suppose we consider each line as a vertex and each
cell (finite region) as an edge. We can reduce each edge with at least five vertices down
to a 4-edge just to make things easier (and strengthen the conclusion). As before, we use
a coin flip p to pick whether a vertex is chosen.

Let W be the number of vertices remaining. Then E[W ] = pn.

Let Y be the number of 4-edges. There are at most n2 such edges, so E[Y ] p4 n2 .

Let Z be the number of pairs (u, v) with two 3-edges containing both

(in the context
of geometry, there are at most two such edges). Then E[Z] n2 p4 < p4 n2 .

If we eliminate the situations in Y and Z then we reach a situation in which the theorem
can be applied.
Finally, let X be the number of edges altogether remaining. Since each edge has 3
vertices and there are n2 edges, E[Z] n2 p3 .
Now, we use the following trick. If we select a random configuration, the probability that
Y > 4p4 n2 is less than 25%. Similarly, P (Z > 4p4 n2 ) is less than 25% and P (X > 4n2 p3 )
is less than 25%, as X, Y , Z are nonnegative. Meanwhile, W is a normal distribution,
so asymptotically the chance that W < 0.99pn approaches 0. Consequently, there is
a nonzero chance that all these inequalities fail, meaning Y 4p4 n2 , Z 4p4 n2 , and
X 4n2 p3 , and W 0.99pn.

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55th IMO 2014 4.8 July 12 Penultimate Excursion and Closing Ceremony

Image 4.18: Po-Shen establishes the bound n log n.

Now using sparsification, delete the bad situations in Y and Z. Then the number of
vertices, N , is at least

N W Y Z 0.99pn 8p4 n2 pn(1 8p3 n)

Lets pick p = 0.01n1/3 . Now N pn.

The average degree is at most

3X n2 p 3
d= np2 .
N np
The theorem then gives us a bound of

N pn
q p p
log d log pn2 n log n
d p n

as desired.
It seems like other people were somewhat lost by the talk. I loved it. Anyways, by
the time the talk ends, it is already midnight, and so everyone retires to their rooms.
Unfortunately I get caught up in talking to people who are congratulating me and so on.
As a result I fail to sleep until 2AM; not so great for the 7AM breakfast tomorrow.

4.8 July 12 Penultimate Excursion and Closing Ceremony

For the first time I am woken up by knocking at my door at 7AM. Although I somewhat
question why it is necessary to eat breakfast at the earliest possible time, I drag myself
out of bed and head over to the dining hall. During the meal, we enjoy a picture on
Facebook which shows CBD placed next to Jigglypuff, reproduced here.

Image 4.19:

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55th IMO 2014 4.8 July 12 Penultimate Excursion and Closing Ceremony

We gather at the bus stops at 8:00 AM. During the previous excursion I had wound
up sitting on a bus for 90 minutes wishing I had my contest diary, so this time I decide
to bring my laptop along, of the impression I would be able to leave it on the bus.
Unfortunately, this is false, and I end up carrying my laptop case for the duration of the
excursion. However, I do manage to catch up on my diary to some extent for yesterday
on the half-hour ride to the bus.
We arrive at the destination and look for the aquarium for which the entire IMO group
has been given free entry. On the way we run into the Chinese team, and exchange
hearty congratulations. It looks like the Taiwan and Chinese leaders all know each other
very well. I am happy to see what I consider the spirit of the IMO, in which everyone is
happy for everyone elses successes. We take a few pictures and then depart.
The aquarium itself consists of one large cycle and we move through the exhibits. It is
hard to describe in words, but it is certainly quite an enjoyable experience. There is a
particularly fun exhibit in which people can crawl into an aperture in the fish tank. Here
is a picture of Dr. Hung inside it.

Image 4.20: Wen-Liang Hung in a fish tank.

At every exhibit we designate any large fish as CBD. Towards the end of the
aquarium, we find a feedback station which CBD and Ting-Wei proceed to put some
troll responses into. I believe they are im so handsome and js turn eyelid. Anyone
who has been with us for more than a few days can guess what the latter refers to. We
then get stuck in the gift store in a flood of people for a while, and on the way out half
the team goes to get ice cream. I think the Taiwan team has been getting a name for
getting second meals at the cafeteria a lot, which is ironic since Im on the team.
At this point for some reason we return to the aquarium to watch penguins being fed.
This is a long wait, and I get bored halfway through. I also feel tired enough that I dont
actually watch the penguins getting fed.
We then go outside, where my parents are waiting and take even more pictures than
I do. Our sack lunch doesnt seem particularly appetizing, so we basically just eat the
chips and dessert, and then decide to go order sushi. Being the prolific eater than I am, I
dont actually eat any sushi. During this time I try to explain to CBD what Po-Shen
had talked about yesterday, but continuously stumble over myself and therefore dont do
a very good job. However, in doing so I complete the holes in my understanding, so I
will probably write the whole thing up nicely at some point.
Ting-Wei starts talking about inversion again, and I remember him commenting that
he wanted problems which were trivialized by inversion a few days ago. The way to find
such problems, of course, is to invert trivial problems.

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55th IMO 2014 4.8 July 12 Penultimate Excursion and Closing Ceremony

Image 4.21: The gift shop at the aquarium.

We then decide to play an excellent game: everyone simultaneously points at someone,

thus generating a directed graph on n vertices with n edges. Then a player loses if and
only if they are part of some directed cycle. After playing a few rounds of this (including
a game where everyone loses) the Taiwan team begins immediately trying to compute
the probability of winning, or equivalent the expected value of the number of losers each
round. Our deputy leader berates us for not properly enjoying the scenery.

Image 4.22: Grabbing sushi.

By the time this concludes it is around 2:20PM, and the bus leaves around 3PM. We
are asked to meet back at 2:50PM. Thus we decide to go to McDonalds and order a large
fries while continuing to work on this excellent problem. I regret not ordering more fries.
Anyways the plan almost works, except we end up being a bit late, but so is everyone else.
Right before we leave, some stranger asks to get a picture of us, apparently intrigued by
the presence of a foreign IMO team.
Finally, we return to the dorm via bus and I update my diary on the ride back. The
closing ceremony is to begin at 5:45, and we have arrived back at around 3:45PM. I
take the time to pack a large portion of my belongings while the Taiwan team reads
newspaper articles that have materialized about the Taiwan IMO performance and laugh
at their inaccuracy (one newspaper claimed that the Olympiad was in Colombia and gave
the medal results of last year). We later find on Facebook a comment on a Yahoo news
article to the effect of this just shows that Taiwan students are only good at test-taking.
The entire Taiwan IMO team makes a point of liking his comment.

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55th IMO 2014 4.8 July 12 Penultimate Excursion and Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony takes place in the same venue as the opening ceremony did. All
medalists have been sorted into several groups of about twenty each to be seated from
outside (similarly to the seating of teams at the opening ceremony). Specifically, there
are six groups of Bronze and Silver and four of Gold.
Unfortunately, no one seems to knows where anyone else is. The inability of some
contestants to understand English, and the extreme late-ness of the US team, only makes
the process more confusing. As a result, we stay outside for a long while before being
properly sorted into groups and entered into the auditorium. Hung-Hsun comments that
last year they had simply labelled the seats with names, and that this had been far more
efficient. I strongly regret not bringing my tablet to play games on.

Image 4.23: Closing ceremony.

The closing ceremony begins with another performance. During this time on my iPod,
I locate the betting sheet on which USA students had been betting on the results of
the IMO. Some of them I find highly amusing. In particular, here are the bets on a few
events pertaining to me.

Evan Chen obtains gold average 72%.

Bets: 75 75 75 79 80 60 90 80 60 70 90 70 70 70 95 50 95

Evan Chen beats all of USA average 25%.

Bets: 21 12 25 43 20 20 17 25 10 5 30 30 20 35 30 30 5

Evan Chen solves all geometry average 59%.

Bets: 66 37 60 57 60 70 75 70 40 75 60 55 55 50 50 95

One person bet 50% for all events; I have discarded that bet. I am amused to see that
the people who I know personally from MOP 2011 and 2012 have on a whole placed
greater faith in me than those I have not met at MOP 2013 and 2014. I would like to
thank the people who placed significant (greater than 25%) probability of me beating
the USA team.
At this point we begin hearing speeches, which I have largely forgotten. We hear a
speech from the University of Cape Town chancellor, who makes the amusing remark
the papers were not easy, probably a very strong understatement, and makes a plug
for UCT admissions. Then we hear a speech from the VP of the Sasol Foundation, the
Minister of Basic Education, and a video from the Shuttleworth Foundation. The latter
two events do not put me to sleep.

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55th IMO 2014 4.8 July 12 Penultimate Excursion and Closing Ceremony

Finally the presentations of awards begins. Firstly, the names of honorable mentions
are projected in large groups for applause. Neighboring contestant Kevin Sun falls asleep
during this presentation.
Then, the Bronze medal presentation team rises to the stage; I recognize some of the
names from the IMO Hall of Fame. Each group of Bronze medalists (there are many)
come up to the stage, one at a time. Pictures are taken, then at a signal one person from
the presenter teams gives the medal, and they turn to face the cameras again wearing
the medals. Most contestants group with their country, and bring their flag to display
for the pictures.
During this time, the Taiwan team devises a scheme to give our perfect scorer TWN5
all the medals so that when he goes up he will already be wearing five medals. CBD and
Pang-Cheng hand over their two Bronze medals to Po-Sheng.
I then expect the Silver medals to go up, but we have another performance instead,
from New World Dance, before the medals actually resume. Between the silver and gold
medals, we have a performance of by a traditional Africa praise singer which I dont
remember much of, but my notes read guy starts screaming which basically summarizes
the event. (And it was prose, not song.)
The Gold medals are then presented, for which there are 10 students in the five groups
as opposed to the 20 students in silver. Ting-Wei is in the first group. I go up to the
stage with Hung-Hsun in the second group and we hold up our flag. Then, we descend
the stage and hand the medals to Po-Sheng, who now has all five medals.
At last, the three perfect scorers are awarded their gold medals in their own group,
to thunderous, well-deserved applause. The contestants are Jiyang Gao (China), Alex
Gunning (Australia), and Po-Sheng Wu.

Image 4.24: The perfect scorers.

Finally the South African team and the Thailand team are called to the stage. A video
for the IMO 2015, to be held in Thailand, is played, and the IMO flag is handed from
the South Africans to Thailand. Nazar then formally closes the IMO.
We try to leave, but it turns out that the organizers want a picture of all the medalists
as well as more pictures of the perfect scores, and force the medalists to sit back down.
As usual there is much confusion. Naturally, they start with Bronze, and so the highest-
scoring contestants get dinner last. Pang-Cheng and CBD ditch the Bronze photo, and
then an unnamed mischief-maker on our team (obviously not me) convinces them to
sneak into the Gold photo. No one was tipped off by the presence of six Taiwan students.
Finally we end up in the building where the leaders had coordinated for food and such.
During this time we finally get to exchanging small presents with other team members,

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55th IMO 2014 4.9 July 13 Midnight Excursion

and I accumulate a large number of gifts. I still admit I have no idea what my gift was; I
think the other countries had better gifts. We also recognize Geoff Smith for the third
time with the golden microphone award, for having the most speeches given to the
jury. Geoff happily declares that he has more things to say than ideas. (I might be
misquoting here.)

Image 4.25: Geoff wins the golden microphone.

A few biscuits, some photos, and a glass of non-alcoholic apple juice (I think) later, we
head back to pack for our departure from the 55th IMO tomorrow.

4.9 July 13 Midnight Excursion

I had heard from previous contestants about meeting lots of people from other teams. I
hadnt gotten to doing much of that, and I really regret it. So for anyone who goes to
compete at the IMO in the future, I recommend making a few friends and then asking to
crash rooms, as it seems most of the contestants cluster in single rooms on various floors.
The rest of the Taiwan team sleeps, but around 1AM I decide to not bother sleeping
and discover one such cluster on the sixth floor which is at the end of a Mafia game. At
some point we descend downwards to the games room where there are still a few souls
awake. We play some games of cards, and then play (or attempt to play) pool. I would
like to remark that pool is very hard.
In the last few hours of the morning I take a stroll through the UCT with one of the
other graduating seniors. We were originally looking for stars, but none are visible, and
so we just walk and chat about our experiences leading up to the IMO. I would also like
to confess to playing foosball and piano (Titanic again) near the leaders residence at
4AM. I apologize if I woke anyone, though I dont think I did. This was the happiest I
had been in a long while. We parted ways as the dawn broke, but needless to say we
would meet again.
Thus I departed the University of Cape Town, marking the end of the night, the end
of the 55th IMO, and the end of the childhood dream I had chased for six years.

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