Harvard–MIT Mathematics Tournament

The Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament (HMMT) is an annual high school math competition that started in 1998.^[1][2] The location of the tournament, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, alternates between Harvard University (November tournament) and MIT (February tournament). ^[3] The contest is written and staffed almost entirely by Harvard and MIT students.^[4][5]

Tournament format

HMMT February is attended by teams of eight students each. Teams can represent a single school, or a regional math team as large as a state. In recent years, teams have represented over 20 states, as well as Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America.

HMMT February consists of three rounds: the Individual Round, the Team Round, and the Guts Round. No calculator or computational aids of any kind are allowed during the contest.

Scoring and awards

HMMT February uses a unique scoring algorithm to rank the competitors on the Individual Rounds. While the problems on these tests are weighted according to difficulty, they are done so after the testing has completed. As explained here,^[6] this helps create a very fair method for weighting problems according to their actual difficulty (as determined by how often and by whom they were solved) as opposed to their perceived difficulty prior to the tournament. The weights assigned to each problem are calculated using a scoring algorithm that takes into account which problems were solved by which students. The weights of the problems on the Team and Guts Rounds are given on the tests.

Prizes are given to the ten highest-scoring individuals overall, the top ten scorers on each of the subject rounds, the ten highest-scoring teams on the Team Round (A and B), and the ten highest-scoring teams on the Guts Round. The top ten teams overall will be named the Sweepstakes winners. The calculation of Sweepstakes scores is roughly half individual round performance and half collaborative round performance.

Difficulty

The difficulty of the competition is compared to that of ARML, the AIME, or the Mandelbrot Competition, though it is considered to be a bit harder than these contests. The contest organizers state that, "HMMT, arguably one of the most difficult math competitions in the United States, is geared toward students who can comfortably and confidently solve 6 to 8 problems correctly on the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME)." As with most high school competitions, knowledge of calculus is not required; however, calculus may be necessary to solve a select few of the more difficult problems on the Individual Rounds.

Results

The results of HMMT February can be seen below:

HMMT November

HMMT November has been held since 2008, alternately at MIT and Harvard, for teams of six students. Students are required to come from the United States to participate, and no student may compete in both November and February in a given school year. The tournament is similar in style to HMMT February, and is organized by the same Harvard and MIT students. Instead of three topic tests, HMMT November has two Individual Rounds: a General Test (ten questions from Algebra, Geometry, and Combinatorics) and a Theme Test (ten questions, many of which are tied together by a common theme). Additionally, the Team Round is entirely short answer, instead of proof-based. HMMT November is considered to be an easier alternative to HMMT February. The results of HMMT November can be seen below:

Sponsors

HMMT is currently sponsored by the MIT Mathematics Department, Optiver, D.E. Shaw & Co, the Harvard Mathematics Department, Flow Traders, the Susquehanna International Group, and Jane Street Capital. ^[36]

Related competitions

• The Princeton University Mathematics Competition

References

External links

• Official website