The Mathematical Modeling Tournament (MMT) is an individual-team competition for high-school students held in two leagues: Senior (grades 10-11) and Junior (grades 8-9). The tournament invites teams of four students in grades 8-11, representing a school or different educational institution, city, or region, along with an accompanying advisor or coach. Teams may also be composed of students from different schools, cities, or regions.
Unlike traditional mathematical olympiads, which nowadays have turned into a kind of intellectual sport and often require special training, MMT aims to provide an opportunity to demonstrate their skills for all students interested in mathematics. Its primary goal is to develop students’ abilities in mathematical modeling of real-world objects, phenomena, processes, etc. The tournament also seeks to familiarize participants with applied mathematics and various mathematical problems that arise in related scientific fields.
Tournament Structure. MMT consists of four rounds, whose short titles/nicknames and logos stem from acronyms of their full titles in Russian.
The main event of the tournament is the team Mathematical Modeling Challenge (MMC/Mammoth). In this round, teams are given one open-ended task that requires building and analyzing a mathematical model of a real-world situation. Participants have up to five days to solve the problem and may use any inanimate sources of information. Teams must both submit papers with solutions and present solutions at a concluding conference.
Another team competition is the Optimization Contest (OC/Goat). Here, participants have to bring visual computer models of specific objects to an “optimal” state according to a given set of criteria using the tools provided in a model.
These team competitions are complemented by two individual rounds in a more traditional olympiad format:
The Math Applied To Science Olympiad (MATS/Primate) features tasks connected to the application of mathematics in mechanics, physics, and other natural sciences.
The Math Around Us Olympiad (MAU/ Lobster) offers mathematical problems based on real-life scenarios.
Prizes are awarded for each round within each league, to the best individuals over all individual rounds, and to the best teams ranked within each grade. Team rankings take into account the best team members’ results in individual rounds and team’s 10-fold result in Mammoth contest. See details here.
Organizers
The Tournament is organized by the A.N. Kolmogorov Advanced Science and Education Center and the Mechanics and Mathematics Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University.
Tournament Objectives
- To develop and promote modern educational fields related to high-technology sectors, such as applied mathematics, mathematical modeling, and STEM.
- To establish connections between specialized science schools and centers in Russia and abroad.
- To introduce students and teachers to innovative forms of mathematical competition.
- To welcome students and teachers from across Russia and international guests to Lomonosov Moscow State University and the city of Moscow.
Previous Tournaments
MMT 1 (2018)
MMT 2 (2019)
MMT 3 (2020)
MMT 4 (2021)
MMT 5 (2022)
MMT 6 (2023)
MMT 7 (2024)