By Marcela Ganea
BUCHAREST, March 1 (Xinhua) -- The apparently lower achievements of the Chinese team at the 11th edition of Romanian Master of Mathematics either betrayed their deficiency of graph theory knowledge or the bad luck, Professor Radu Gologan, president of the Romanian Society of Mathematical Sciences explained to Xinhua on Friday.
"This year's Chinese team couldn't solve problem No. 3 which I suspect either betrayed lack of knowledge of the graph theory, or they may have had what we call a bad day," said Gologan, professor with the Polytechnic University of Bucharest and organizer of the current edition of Romanian Master of Mathematics which took place in Bucharest between Feb. 20-25.
Even though, Gologan considered the Chinese to be the best in the world in mathematics.
"Let us not forget that. This year, almost all the Chinese scored 0 for problem No 3, but 2 of them scored 7, the maximum score, in all the other 5 problems and another 2 scored 7 in 4 problems," said the professor, reminding that "China did very well in medals, four silvers, although they could not get the gold medal."
Gologan said that it is not at all a disaster that China didn't win a gold medal this year because China remains a force in mathematics on the global stage.
First, the Chinese have won the annual Romanian Master of Mathematics several times and they have already proved their abilities.
Second, there seems to be a Chinese mathematical gene that drives on the first places the contestants of Chinese origin in international mathematical competitions.
"Definitely, at present, in international mathematical contests, the first 4 countries will be: China, the U.S., South Korea and Russia. History shows that over the last 20 years, China has had the best rankings. I've met their leaders for many years in international mathematical competitions. I know how they select the teams and what their results are," he said.
Gologan emphasized that actually the other countries with high rankings have their teams composed of contestants of Chinese origin.
His overall impression about the Chinese team is extremely appreciative. The young contestants were accompanied by the best teachers possible; their attitude has been dutifully disciplined while organization and communication have been perfect.
Gologan also revealed secrets of the performances of national teams of teenagers who take part every year in this prestigious competition.
According to him, each year, all teams competing in the Romanian Master of Mathematics vary significantly in terms of value and performance. For this year's edition, it seemed that most of the 24 participating countries haven't sent their best teams.
"Teams are always in a process of development. Russia, for instance, has 25 teenagers undergoing permanent formation. This year they sent 6 representatives, but the team changes every year in an attempt to reach the best composition and this is the case for most countries," said Gologan.
Britain ranked the 2nd last year and among the last this year. Israel took part for the first time in this competition and had excellent results.
Gologan also told Xinhua that there are two major international mathematical contests for high-schools in the world and Romania is closely linked to the history of the two contests.
The International Mathematical Olympiad was first held in Romania and currently held annually in a different country. The other one is the annual Romanian Master of Mathematics, which is considered to be the most difficult mathematical contest in the world, tougher than the Olympiad.
