It is already this Wednesday, the 23rd of May, that the unique test of the Mini-Olympics of Mathematics will be held in 940 schools across the country. Thousands of students in the 3rd and 4th years will respond, in this way, to the challenge of solving problems of mathematics in a creative way, developing from an early age a taste for the subject.
As part of the Portuguese Mathematics Olympiads (OPM), the Mini-Olympics celebrate their second year of existence with the increase in the number of participating schools. The expansion of OPM to students from the 3rd year of schooling, in 2011, was an important milestone for this competition, as it boosted the competitiveness of future Portuguese teams in international competitions.
The OPM are organized by the Portuguese Society of Mathematics (SPM) and the Department of Mathematics of the University of Coimbra with the aim of developing a taste for mathematics. The OPM were organized for the first time in 1980, only in schools in the Center region. The demand, however, meant that from 1983 onwards they were expanded to the national level.
The SPM initiative has the support of the Ministry of Education and Science, Ciência Viva, Banco Espírito Santo, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Pathena and the Público newspaper.
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