From the very beginning the Academy has been
successfully using the competitive medium to
spot talents by way of popularising mathematics.
The main competitions organized regularly by
the Academy are Mathematics Olympiads, Math/etics
Competitions, Q"iz Competitions and Essay competitions.
Initially the Mathematics Olympiad was organized for one category of students reading in
classes X-XII with one question paper and it was held only at Guwahati. The first such Olympiad
was held in 1987. But this Olympiad movement has gained tremendous expansion in recent times.
Now this Olympiad is held in more than forty places in the state of Assam for four different categories of
students reading in V-VI, VII-VITI, IX-X and XI-XII with separate question papers.
In
the early nineties of the last century the Academy
introduced a novel type of competition which
was named Mathletics Competition. This competition
is unique in the sense that both students and
teachers can together take part in it. Teams,
each composed of two students(called mathletes)
and a teacher(called coach) can take part in
this competition. The mathletes and the coach
are allowed to discuss among themselves for
a certain period of time at the beginning of
the competition on the probable solutions to
the problems(questions) supplied to them, but
they will not be allowed to use pen and paper.
Then the coach will be separated from the mathletes
and mathletes will themselves finalise the solutions
collectively and write th~m in the answer book.
At the moment this competition is held for two
categories of students reading in VII-VITI and
IX-X. This competition is also organized at
more than forty places in the state. The main
purpose of the Mathletics Competition is to
(1) promote a healthy relation between the teacher
and the taught, (2) give the joy of doing mathematics
in a group and (3) enable the teacher to share
the excitement of his pupils' success.
Both in Mathematics Olympiad and Mathletics Competition a large number of prizes are awarded to the participants on the basis of their performance.
In Mathletics Competition the coach of a winning teafu is also awarded prize
Quiz and Essay Competitions are also held locally and centrally at regular intervals for students
of different categories. In particular the Quiz Competition has evoked keen interest among the students.
This competition is first held at different centres and then a final round of the competition is held centrally
for the top performers in the centres.
