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Thanks for participation! A new mathematics competition for senior secondary school students organized by the Mathematics and Information Engineering Programme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The Competition

Updates

17 March 2023 Thank you for participating in the competition on 4 March 2023! Here you may find the solution to the test and the list of awardees. Prizes of the competition will be as follows:

Gold Awards - Each awardee will also get book coupons, a certificate and a souvenir.

  • First place (1 awardee) - HKD1,500 book coupons
  • Second place (1 awardee) - HKD1,000 book coupons
  • Third place (2 awardees) - HKD500 book coupons

Silver Awards (22 awardees) - Each awardee will get HKD100 book coupons, a certificate, and a souvenir.

Bronze Awards (24 awardees) - Each awardee will get a certificate and a souvenir.

Honourable Mention Awards (55 awardees) - Each awardee will get a certificate.

The award ceremony will be held tentatively in June 2023. The confirmed date will be posted on the competition website later, and individual emails will be sent to the awardees.

22 February 2023 Registration Confirmation has been sent to the successful registrants. Please contact Ms. Winnie Chan if you still did not receive the confirmation. Thanks!

17 February 2023 The application quota is full. Thank you all for the registration.

4th March 2023 (Saturday)
9:15am-12:30pm
LT1, Ground Floor, Yasumoto International Academic Park (YIA), The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The Competition of the Mathematics of Information is a new competition organized by the Mathematics and Information Engineering Programme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
It will consist of 4-5 challenging math questions closely connected with information sciences. Participants will need to solve the problems with logic and mathematical skills.

Aim

To recognize talented students in mathematics and information science.

Target Audience

Secondary school students in Hong Kong. Previous exposure to calculus is recommended.

Prizes

First place Second place Third place
Certificates of distinction will be awarded to high performers. Award ceremony will be held on a separate date.

Registration Deadline

16th February, 2023 (Thursday)

Rules

  1. The competition will be in the form of an examination, with a time limit of 3 hours.
  2. This is an individual competition. Contestants must not communicate with anyone other than invigilators during the competition.
  3. Contestants should bring their HKID cards for identification purposes.
  4. Contestants are allowed to bring pens, pencils, rulers, erasers and correction tapes or fluid. No other items (e.g. calculators, phones, books, papers) are allowed during the competition. Contestants should bring their own stationery.
  5. Contestants must arrive before 9:15am.
  6. The exam paper will be in English.
  7. Should you have any questions during the competition, please raise your hand. An invigilator will come to assist you.
  8. Photos may be taken during the competition for promotional purposes.
  9. If the competition is postponed or cancelled, it will be announced on the website , and via email to the registered contestants. Please check our website periodically for updated information.
  10. The award ceremony will be held on a later date announced on our website.

Sample Problem

The competition consist of 4-5 challenging math questions closely connected with information sciences.
The following is a sample problem for your reference.

You are trying to communicate a message to your friend. There is a room with 8 light bulbs, where each of them can be switched on or off individually. You enter the room, switch some light bulbs on or off, and leave the room. Your friend then view the room through a window and attempts to find out the message you are trying to convey. You and your friend can agree on a strategy before you enter the room. If all light bulbs are working correctly, you can convey a message with 28 = 256 possibilities, such as an integer in the range 0,1,…,255, by switching the light bulbs on or off according to the binary representation of the integer.

Diagram for the sample question
  1. Now, both of you know that exactly one of the light bulbs is faulty, i.e., it is stuck at either on or off. You can know which light bulb is faulty by trying to switch the light bulbs on and off. If your friend knows which light bulb is faulty as well, you can convey a message with 27 = 128 possibilities simply by ignoring the faulty light bulb. However, your friend does not know which light bulb is faulty.
    How many different possibilities can you convey? Can you still convey a message with 128 possibilities?
  2. Suppose now both of you know that there are exactly two faulty light bulbs. How many different possibilities can you convey?

Can you solve this problem? Want to challenge yourself? Register to join this competition now!





Apply

The competition in 2023 is over. Thanks for your interest. See you in 2024!