Benelux Mathematical Olympiad

About the BxMO

The Benelux Mathematical Olympiad

The Benelux Mathematical Olympiad (BxMO) is a mathematical competition dedicated to high school students from Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The contest is individual and consists of a single four-and-a-half-hour paper of four problems, mostly at easy IMO level or slightly below. An official delegation from each country is composed of ten students and three leaders. Half of the contestants are awarded a bronze, silver or gold medal, in the ratio 3:2:1.

History

During the IMO in 2008 Charles Leytem of Luxembourg and Quintijn Puite and Birgit van Dalen of the Netherlands talked about doing some training activity together. At the same time Quintijn and Birgit were investigating the possibility of joining an additional international contest, such as the Balkan Olympiad, so that younger students would get the chance to participate in an international contest. And so the idea of the Benelux Mathematical Olympiad was born in August 2008. Charles was enthousiastic immediately, the Belgians followed a while later.

The first BxMO was held in Bergen op Zoom in the Netherlands in May 2009. The Netherlands also organised the second BxMO, because they wanted to gain some experience for IMO 2011 in Amsterdam. For that reason also three extra countries were invited for that edition: Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland. The third BxMO took place in Luxembourg, the fourth in Belgium, and from that moment on it was an annual tradition.

To celebrate the fifth edition of the BxMO, this website was created, where all results and statistics from the past BxMOs can be saved.