1. GENERAL

1.1

The 2004 Asian Pacific Mathematics Olympiad (APMO) is to be held in the afternoon of Monday March 15 for participating countries in the Americas, and in the morning of Tuesday March 16 for participating countries on the Western Pacific Rim.

1.2

The contest questions are to be collected from the contestants at the end of the APMO and are to be kept confidential until the Organizing Country posts them on the APMO website. Additionally, each exam paper must contain a written legend, warning the students not to discuss the problems over the internet until that date.

1.3

Each participating country is responsible for the cost and organisation of the APMO within their country.

1.4

The aims of the APMO include:

a) the discovering, encouraging and challenging of mathematically gifted school students in all Pacific-Rim countries

b) the fostering of friendly international relations and cooperation between students and teachers in the Pacific-Rim Region

c) the creating of an opportunity for the exchange of information on school syllabi and practice throughout the Pacific Region

d) the encouragement and support of mathematical involvement with Olympiad type activities, not only in the APMO participating countries, but also in other Pacific-Rim countries.

1.5

a) The APMO Countries are grouped as follows:
(i) The APMO Senior Coordinating Country,
(ii) The APMO Assistant Coordinating Country,
(iii) The APMO Moderating Country,
(iv) The APMO Participating Countries.

b) At the Annual General Meeting, the APMO Senior Coordinating Country and the APMO Chair are elected for an initial period of three years. Thereafter the Annual General Meeting may confirm their status on a year-by-year basis. It is the responsibility of the APMO Senior Coordinating Country to nominate the APMO Chair.

c) At the Annual General Meeting, the APMO Assistant Coordinating Country is elected for an initial period of two years. Thereafter the Annual General Meeting may confirm its status on a year-by-year basis.

d) At the Annual General Meeting, the APMO Moderating Country is elected for an initial period of one year. Thereafter the Annual General Meeting may confirm its status on a year-by-year basis.

e) The Executive of the APMO consists of: the APMO Chair, the APMO Problems Chair, the Country Representative of the APMO Assistant Coordinating Country, the Retiring APMO Chair, the APMO Secretary and the APMO Treasurer.

1.6

The Annual General Meeting of the APMO Committee, with the agreement of the organisers of the IMO host country, is to be held during the annual IMO. Communications details of the APMO membership are to be initially identified at the above meeting.

1.7

The APMO contest consists of one four-hour paper consisting of five questions of varying difficulty and each having a maximum score of 7 points.

1.8

Countries' representatives should be sensitive to the need for rapid reliable communications between themselves and the Senior Coordinating Country. Where possible immediate communications should be made by FAX and/or e-MAIL to be followed by airmail letters confirming the earlier contacts.

2. PARTICIPATION

2.1

All countries on the Pacific Rim are eligible to participate in the annual APMO. However, in their request to be a member, they must have the support of an appropriate educational/mathematical body in their country.

2.2

Contestants should not have formally enrolled at a university (or equivalent post-secondary institution) and they must be younger than 20 years of age on the 1st July of the year of the contest.

2.3

While a particular country may have, unofficially, any number of students sitting the APMO in their country, the details and results of a maximum of ten students coded in ranked order on the Summary of Results Form, plus copies of the 1st, 3rd and 7th ranking students' solution papers are to be sent to the Senior Coordinating Country for that year. Contestants having the same score must be ranked by their country's APMO Organising Committee. Equal ranking is not permitted. (For example, suggestions for breaking tie scores could include the ranking of the contestants' scores on the most difficult question and/or assessing the quality of solutions and so on.)

2.4

All APMO contestants will receive a Certificate of Award, Honourable Mention or Representation. The constraints for the issuing of Award certificates in general for a particular country are as follows:

a) To determine the overall numbers and levels of gold, silver and bronze award certificates, the following guidelines are to be used:

i)

Maximum total number of award certificates ; (when ties occur, increase number) where total number of APMO contestants;

ii)

scores for gold awards ,
scores for silver awards , and
scores for bronze awards ,
where mean APMO score, and
standard deviation of all the APMO scores.

b) For a particular country the number of

i)

gold awards 1,

ii)

gold + silver awards 3, and

iii)

gold + silver + bronze awards 7.

2.5

A certificate of Honourable Mention will be awarded to any contestant who has not received an Award certificate but who has performed creditably according to some criteria (variable from year to year and dependent upon the actual spread of scores) determined each year by the Senior Coordinating Country after consultation with the Assistant Coordinating Country; for example, a contestant who has obtained a perfect score of 7 for at least one question or has obtained scores of 5 or 6 for at least two questions.

2.6

The question proposals should, if possible, cover fields of pre-university mathematics and, if possible, be of varying degrees of difficulty. The proposals should be written in English.

3. RESPONSIBILITIES

3.1

The Chair of the APMO Committee is responsible for organising the agenda and other necessary matters at the Annual Meeting of the APMO Committee. The Chair must ensure that the Senior and Assistant Coordinating Countries have been identified for the following two years.

3.2

The Senior Coordinating Country, with the cooperation of the Assistant Coordinating Country, is responsible for:

a) proposing, if necessary, up to four questions, solutions and marking schemes for the APMO

b) setting of the questions, preparing solutions and marking schemes for the APMO

c) sending to the Assistant Coordinating Country the proposed APMO contest paper, two reserve questions, solutions and marking schemes for moderation by 14 October each year

d) sending an English version of the APMO contest questions, solutions and marking schemes to the appropriate contact person (representative or committee member) in each of the participating countries by 14 January the following year

e) the coordination and ranking of the results (as per clauses 2.4 and 2.5 above) to be sent to the participating countries as soon as possible in April or early May of each year

f) sending, by airmail, a sufficient number of Award, Honourable Mention and Representation certificates to each of the participating countries

g) preparing a summary report to be sent to the Chair by 31 May each year

h) keeping the APMO Chair informed of APMO's progress at appropriate times during the year.

3.3

The Assistant Coordinating APMO Country is responsible, when required, for direct and general support of the Senior Coordinating Country in helping set and moderate the APMO Contest paper and other problems if they arise. In particular:

a) it should propose, when necessary, up to three questions, solutions and marking schemes for the APMO which are to be sent to the Senior Coordinating Country by 1 August of each year, and

b) it should send reactions to APMO draft papers to the Senior Coordinating Country by 14 of November of each year.

3.4

The Moderating APMO Country is responsible for final moderation of the APMO paper and marking scheme.

3.5

The Participating APMO countries are responsible for:

a) indicating to the Senior Coordinating Country that they wish to be placed on the APMO mailing list and, at the same time, identifying their country's contact person, and address details by 1 of July of each year. Countries must also submit a completed Participation Form (available on the APMO website) by November 30.

(Note: it is important that the contact person or nominee be available at the designated address for the period from July to April of the following year).

b) organising the APMO for their countries in 2004 during the afternoon of Monday March 15 for countries in the Americas, and in the morning of Tuesday March 16 for countries on the Western Pacific Rim (as defined in clause 1.1).

c) proposing two questions (varying degrees of difficulty and topics), solutions and marking schemes

(i)

to be given to the APMO Chair (or his/her representative) at the Annual APMO General Meeting if their country is represented at the annual IMO; or

(ii)

to be sent to the APMO Chair by 1 of July if their country is not represented at the annual IMO.

(iii)

at the same time to identify the names and institutions of the proposers of the questions, as well as the source of the questions; and

(iv)

to indicate whether the proposed questions which are not selected for the APMO, are available to be published in the final APMO report or are required to be returned in confidence to the proposers, or are to be placed in a question bank for future APMO's;

d) informing the APMO Senior Coordinating Country immediately of having received the Contest papers and of the contest schedule for their country

e) marking their students' APMO solutions (with an integer score) and completing the APMO Results Summary Form; and

f) sending the completed APMO Results Form, by 9 April 2004, initially, if possible, by FAX then by airmail. This letter should also include copies of the papers of the 1st, 3rd and 7th ranking students in their country.

g) contributing a registration fee of US$100 for participating in an APMO and this fee should be sent to the Senior APMO Coordinating Country by 1 August each year.

Note: The coordination of results will proceed generally no later than April 15 of each year. If a country has not sent in its results, consistent with the regulations, it will automatically be excluded from that year's general result processing.

YEARLY TIMETABLE

1st July or AGM

All countries, wishing to participate in the next APMO, to indicate to the APMO Chair that they wish to be placed on the APMO mailing list and, at the same time, to identify their country's contact person and all contact address (mail, telephone, FAX, and e-mail) details. (Much of this information should be given, where possible, at the annual APMO meeting during the July IMO); and
APMO Participating countries other than Assistant Coordinating Country
(i) to give two questions, solutions and marking scheme proposals to the APMO Chair (or his/her representative) at the Annual APMO General Meeting if their country is represented at the annual IMO; or
(ii) to send two questions, solutions and marking scheme proposals to the APMO Chair by 1 July if their country is not represented at the annual IMO, and other details noted in clause 3.4 (c).

1st August

APMO Assistant Coordinating Country to send: two or three questions, solutions, marking scheme proposals and other details noted in clause 3.4 (c) to the APMO Chair.
All Countries to send: Annual registration fee or request for non-payment of fees to the APMO Chair.

14th October

APMO Senior Coordinating Country to send draft APMO question papers, solutions and marking schemes plus reserve questions etc., to the APMO Assistant Coordinating Country for moderation.

14th November

APMO Assistant Coordinating Country to send their reactions and comments on the AMPO draft paper to the APMO Senior Coordinating Country.

30th November

All countries to send their completed Participation Forms to the Senior Coordinating Country.

14th December

APMO Senior Coordinating Country to send proposal of the APMO paper to Moderating Country for final moderation (identification of possible known problems).

14th January

APMO Senior Coordinating Country to send complete set of APMO contest papers, solutions, marking schemes, Results Forms and Acknowledgement of Receipt Forms to all APMO Participating countries; and
All APMO Participating Countries to confirm (by FAX where possible) the receipt of the contest papers and to indicate their countries' intended contest schedules to the APMO Senior Coordinating Country.

March 15/16, 2004

All APMO Participating Countries to hold the APMO in their own country. (Reminder: Contest papers to be collected to maximize security of papers during that period. Also, the exam must have a written request to the students, telling them not to discuss the problems on the Internet until the Organizing Country publishes them on the APMO website.)

9th April

All APMO Participating Countries must send to the APMO Senior Coordinating Country, to be received not later than 9 April:
(i) completed APMO Result Form by FAX if possible; otherwise by Electronic Mail; and
(ii) another copy of the completed APMO Result Form plus copies of their 1st, 3rd and 7th ranking students' papers sent via Airmail or courier not later than 9 April.

2nd May

The APMO Senior Coordinating Country to send to all APMO Participating Countries:
(i) the overall results indicating Gold, Silver, Bronze and Honourable Mention Certificate winners;
(ii) copy of the above summary of scoring on questions and a collection of blank Award, Honourable Mention and Representation Certificates.

31st May

The APMO Senior Coordinating Country to send an APMO summary report to the APMO Chair.

Early July

The APMO Chair to prepare the agenda and papers for the Annual General Meeting of the APMO during the annual IMO.