Mathematics competition is similar to sports competition. It is an intelligence competition for teenagers, so the Soviet Union pioneered the term "Mathematical Olympics". In similar intelligence contests with basic science as the competition content, the mathematics contest has the longest history, the largest number of participating countries and the greatest influence. The more formal math competition began in Hungary in 1894, and has been held for more than 90 times up to now, except for seven sessions suspended due to two world wars and the incident of 1956. The mathematics competition in the Soviet Union began at 1934, while the mathematics competition in the United States began at 1938. Apart from the three years during World War II, these two countries have held more than 50 competitions. Other countries with a long history of mathematics competitions include Romania (1902), Bulgaria (1949) and China (1956).

1956, the eastern European countries and the Soviet union formally defined the plan of the international mathematical olympiad. 1959, the first international mathematical olympiad (1MO) was held in brasov. It will be held once a year. Except for 1980, which was suspended due to the economic difficulties of Mongolia, the host country, it has been held for 40 times so far. More and more countries are participating. Only 7 countries participated in the first session, and by 1980, there were 23 countries; To 1990, there are 54.

It must be pointed out that there have been some math competitions before the above history. For example, the Soviets said that a math contest was held in the era of 1886. Another example is 1926. A abacus competition was held in China and Shanghai, with students, banks and bank employees. Hua, a first-year student in China Vocational School, won the championship with his wisdom. These are all stories about math competitions, not in the official history.

Second, the development of mathematical competitions

Mathematics competitions have gradually developed from a single city to the whole country and then to the whole world. For example, the math competition in the Soviet Union started in Leningrad and Moscow, and 1962 was extended to the whole country. In the United States, there was no national mathematics competition until 1957.

Mathematical competition activities are also gradually developed from shallow to deep. In almost every country, mathematical competitions are organized by some famous mathematicians. The test questions are very close to the exercises in the middle school textbooks, and then gradually deepen. Some mathematicians spend more energy on selecting topics and organizing competitions. At this time, the test questions are gradually out of the scope of middle school textbooks. Of course, it is still required to state the questions in elementary mathematical language and solve them by elementary mathematical methods. For example, at the beginning of the Soviet Mathematical Competition, famous mathematicians such as André Andrey Kolmogorov, Aleksandrov and Tommy Tam Nie all took part in this work. In the United States, famous mathematicians such as boekhoff and his sons Paulia and Kaplanski participated in this work.

After the start of the International Mathematical Olympiad, the preparation work of the participating countries is often mainly an intensive training for athletes to broaden their knowledge and improve their ability to solve problems. This kind of training class is very difficult, much deeper than middle school mathematics. At this time, several mathematicians are needed to specialize in this activity. In countries with good math competitions, competitions often take the form of pyramid competitions and are selected at different levels. For example. The Soviet Union is divided into five levels of competitions, namely, school-level, municipal, provincial, national and all-Soviet competitions. The number of participants in each level is about110 of the previous level, and eight special math schools (or math Olympic schools) have been established to train students with good math quality.

Although the mathematical competition has a long history, it has developed and changed greatly in the recent 10 years, and the related work has become more and more specialized. We should pay close attention to its development and understand its laws.