The young Panamanians Jorge Liu and Danna Medrano won a bronze medal and an honorable mention respectively, playing a prominent role in the Ibero-American Mathematical Olympiad (IOM), an event in which 22 delegations from America, Spain and Portugal participated.

Liu explained that the competition in Brazil consisted of solving a total of six problems in two days, which had different degrees of difficulty and four and a half hours of time to solve them, they were also topics in the field of number theory, algebra, geometry and combinatorics, he added that in the future he plans to study mathematics or computer science.

“This Olympiad is an important event because you can meet people from different countries with common interests and also visit the host nation,” Liu said.

For his part, Medrano said that for the trip to Brazil he participated in an intense preparation program led by the Panamanian Mathematical Olympiad Foundation to enhance his mathematical skills.

“This was my first trip to an international competition. The level of the tests was very high. In my case, I had participated in other events of this type, but virtually. Now, as I was face-to-face, I was a little nervous. However, I was able to win an honorable mention for my country,” Medrano said.

According to Jeanette Shakalli, Executive Director of the Panamanian Foundation for the Promotion of Mathematics (FUNDAPROMAT), the role of the Panamanian delegation in IOM is of the utmost importance because, without a doubt, it serves as a success story that they hope will encourage more young people to discover this science.

“In recent months, we have seen how Panamanian students have stood out in international competitions, which shows us the great talent of national youth. We at FUNDAPROMAT seek to motivate more young people to be enthusiastic about studying mathematics or pursuing a scientific career,” Shakalli said.

IOM is one of the largest world events in the field of mathematics that in the 2023 edition brought together 123 participants from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela.