What is MEMO?
The Middle European Mathematical Olympiad (MEMO) is the continuation of Austrian-Polish Mathematical Competition (APMC), held 29 times from 1978 to 2006. Now ten countries participate in the MEMO: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.
Similar to the IMO, each country participates with at most six students and two team leaders. At a meeting of representatives of MEMO countries held in 2006. during the IMO it was pointed out that one of the goals of the new competition was to enable a larger number of students to gain experience in international competitions. Therefore, the teams participating in the MEMO are typically disjoint from the IMO teams (except the Slovenian team). Also, in order for MEMO to help younger students prepare for some future International Mathematical Olympiad, students in their senior year are not eligible to be in the MEMO team.
The most important part of the MEMO are the individual and team competition, each lasting five hours. The problems are of the “olympic” type, typically divided into four areas: algebra, combinatorics, geometry and number theory. At the individual competition the students solve one problem from each area. The team competition test consists of eight problems, two from each area (although at the first two MEMOs the team competition also had only four problems). In the team competition the students solve the problems together, which gives the competition a very special atmosphere. The team part of the competition existed also at the APMC, but it is otherwise a rarity in mathematical competitions.
The whole program lasts for one week. Besides the individual and team competition, it contains excursions, entertainment and sports activities.
The 18th Middle European Mathematical Olympiad will be held in Szeged, Hungary, from 24th to 30th August 2024. About a hundred participants are expected, including 60 contestants and 20 team leaders and deputies. The main organisers of the 18th MEMO are the János Bolyai Mathematical Society and the Bolyai Institute of University of Szeged. Financial support is provided by the Ministry of Culture and Innovation and the National Excellence Program.
Meet the mascot of the 18th MEMO:
Marvin
Hey Everyone!
I'm Marvin, the mascot of the Hungarian math team and a former stormtrooper. My mom is Anna Kerekes and my dad is Dániel Lenger. They weren't too happy about me serving the dark side, so when the Death Star blew up, I moved back to Budapest and looked for a new job. That's how I became the mascot of the Hungarian team.
Over the past few years, I've had a lot of adventures with you all. Two years ago, I took part in the EGMO in Eger, where I made many new friends among the other mascots, and even found love: I tied the knot with the German team's tiger mascot.
This year, I'm back to join you at MEMO and support the Hungarian team. I hope the force is with all of you during the competition, and we achieve fantastic results!
Marvin
Check out Marvin's video of the EGMO 2022 Olympiad:
Follow me on social media!
Colours of MEMO 2024
