Students organized Mathematical Náboj
On Friday March 22, 2019 FMPH students of the Trojsten Association arranged an arousing team competition, which – within 22 years of its existence – has spread from the Faculty´s lecture rooms into 9 European countries. As many as 5,000 highschoolers took part this year.
The 22nd Náboj contest gathered almost 5,000 participants in 995 teams in 17 European cities. The task was to solve as many interesting maths problems as possible within 2-hour time limit. The problems required more than automatic application of memorized formulas; much creativity was needed as well as skill, unconventional approach to the problem and further abilities supporting analytical reasoning.
Highschoolers competed in two categories: junior (1st and 2nd year of high school) and senior (3rd and 4th year). The best teams in each category won gifts and cakes. The participants benefited from comparison of their performance in international ranking, where the first position in the junior category was taken by the Slovak team of Grosslingova school in Bratislava. The Polish team of a Krakow school won the senior category, where the best of the Slovak teams – the Poštova school in Košice - took the 5th position. The list of scores can be found on math.naboj.org.
The Bratislava round was attended by almost 1,000 highschoolers in 190 teams arriving from all over the country. The contest is conducted by volunteers among the students of the Trojsten Association at FMPI, but also many other undergraduates assisted. Another Slovak city where the contest was held was Košice.
As is a tradition, the highschoolers were challenged by a team of teachers and researchers of the FMPI, who were not beaten this year and performed by 2 points better than the best team in Bratislava.
The Dean of FMPI Professor Daniel Ševčovič, and Associate Professor Róbert Jajcay made an appearance at the opening ceremony expressing their appreciation of the high number of young people involved in mathematics. The competition was accompanied by a programme for the contestants´ teachers and guests.
The Trojsten Association was founded in 1994, however, the tradition of distance seminars in Slovakia dates back to 1980s. Apart from the Náboj competition held three times each year in the maths, physics and elementary school sections, the Association arranges regular one-week meetings for the best participants, Summer schools, camps, or series of popular lectures for learners of high and elementary schools. More information about these events can be found on trojsten.sk.