Mathematical Kangaroo

Mathematical Kangaroo (also known as International Mathematical Kangaroo, or Kangourou sans frontières in French) is an international mathematical competition where over 50 countries are represented. There are twelve levels of participation, ranging from grade 1 to grade 12. The competition is held annually on the third Thursday of March. According to the organizers, the key competence tested by Mathematical Kangaroo is logical combination, not just pure knowledge of formulas.

It is the largest competition for school students in the world, with over 5,000,000 participants from 47 countries in 2009.

History

The competition was established in 1991 by André Deledicq, a professor of mathematics at the University of Paris 7, and Jean-Pierre Boudine,[1] professor of mathematics at Marseille. The idea comes from the Australian Mathematics Competition, initiated in 1978 by Peter O'Halloran.[2] It is based on multiple-choice questions (MCQs), which were rarely unused in France at that time, at least in mathematics. For this competition, Jean-Pierre Boudine and André Deledicq were awarded the 1994 d'Alembert prize of the Mathematical Society of France.

Format

The competition is a multiple choice test that runs for 75 minutes. It consists of 24 questions for students up to 4th grade, and 30 questions for other students. The sections for 3 point, 4 point, and 5 point questions are equally divided. The minimum score is 0. The maximum score is 96 points for students up to 4th grade, and 120 points for other students. There is a -1 point penalty for any incorrect answer, and no penalty for skipping a question.

Prizes

Evaluation and collecting of results as well as the prizes are regulated and organized nationally. Special prizes are given for the “longest kangaroo jump” (i.e., the highest number of consecutive correct answers) for each school.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jean-Pierre Boudine biography at French Wikipedia
  2. ↑ Obituary: Peter Joseph O'Halloran (1931-1994) at AMT website

External links

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