13th Pan African Mathematics Olympiad (PAMO)

The 13th PAMO was held in Maputo, Mozambique from 19 - 27 April 2003.

South Africa top in African maths olympiad

For the second year running a team of four High School students from South Africa have won top honours in the Pan African Mathematics Olympiad (PAMO) which was held in Maputo, Mozambique from 19 to 27 April 2003.

The South Africa team: Lisa Alberti (Deputy Leader), Divya Babu (Bronze Medal), Linsen Loots (Winner-Gold Medal), David Hatton (Team Leader), Gayle Sher (Silver Medal), Yumna Moosa (Silver Medal-first girl).

The team consisting of:

• Linsen Loots (grade 12, Parel Vallei HS)
• Yumna Moosa (grade 10, Wynberg Girls' High School)
• Gayle Sher (grade 10, Reddam House)
• Divya Babu (grade 11, Ixopo High School) took a Gold, 2 Silvers and a Bronze medal respectively.

The South African team won overall first place in the Olympiad team rankings. Their coach, David Hatton (University of Cape Town), was awarded a Gold Medal as the Team Leader of the winning team.

Linsen Loots was awarded the prize for the best student at the Olympiad and Yumna Moosa the best girl participant. Gayle and Divya were in fact the two next best girls.

This was the 13th PAMO, an annual event which first took place in 1987. Nine countries took part: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon Lesotho, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Swaziland.

The students wrote two four-and-a-half hour papers on two successive days. Each paper consisted of three questions. An International Jury, consisting of representatives of all participating countries, set and marked the papers and ranked the students in order of achievement.

The top ten contestants and their scores were:

1. Linsen Loots (South Africa) (35)
2. Romeo Olivier Awi (Benin) (27)
3. Wane Ibrahima (Senegal) (26)
4. Konkobo Daouda (Burkina Faso) (25)
4. Yumna Moosa (South Africa) (25)
6. Gayle Sher (South Africa) (22)
7. Abdourhamane Idrissa (Mali) (21)
8. Salou Latifou (Benin) (20)
8. Marius Gilbert (Cameroon) (20)
10. Veichali Mahendra (Mozambique) (18)
10 Divya Babu (South Africa) (18)

The team ranking was:

1. South Africa
2. Benin
3. Burkina Faso
4. Cameroon
5. Mozambique
6. Mali
7. Senegal
8. Lesotho
9. Swaziland

The South African team was selected after a year-long Mathematical Talent Search, organised by the South African Mathematical Society and sponsored by Old Mutual. The team attended a week-long Mathematical Camp at the University of Cape Town just prior to the Olympiad and were hosted in Mozambique by the Mozambique Ministry of Education.

Lisa Alberti (University of Stellenbosch) a previous PAMO team member and medal winner, accompanied the team as Deputy Leader.

Next year's Pan African Mathematics Olympiad will take place in Tunisia as part of the Pan African Congress of Mathematicians.

Enquiries:

David Hatton
hattond@chemeng.uct.ac.za
Cell: 084 414 7555

John Webb
jhwebb@maths.uct.ac.za
Tel: 021 650 3193