They're No. 1: U.S. Wins Math Olympiad For First Time In 21 Years

AS REPORTED on NPR.org: In one of this year's most intense international competitions, the United States has come out as best in the world. How exciting for Team USA to win the Math Olympiad. This week, the top-ranked math students from high schools around the country went head-to-head with competitors from more than 100 countries at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Chiang Mai, Thailand. And, for the first time in more than two decades, they won. The coach for Team USA, Po-Shen Loh, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University had lots of promising things to say. The students work on three math problems each, and Loh states, "If you can even solve one question you're a bit of a genius." Regarding concerns that American math students are falling behind those in the rest of the world, Loh says, "At least in this case with the Olympiads, we've been able to prove that our top Americans are certainly at the level of the top people from the other countries." And, regarding the concerns about a persistent gender gap in U.S. math achievement, and the fact that all six members of this year's winning team are boys, Loh encourages us by saying, "that is actually something that one hopes will change. The top 12 people in the country on the United States Math Olympiad happen to have two girls in it. One might say, 'Only 2 out of 12, that's terrible.' But I should say in many years, it was, unfortunately, zero." He encourages us further with these words: "Ultimately, I think that as the mathematical culture starts to reach out to more people in the United States, we could quite possibly start to see more diversity. And I think that would be a fantastic outcome." Read the full article here (https://www.npr.org/2015/07/18/424122249/theyre-no-1-u-s-wins-math-olympiad-for-first-time-in-21-years), and learn why Loh wants us to understand that there is beauty - and art - in math. "Math is a cross between art and law. Law is about the reasoning and proving. And the art is because what we're trying to prove are statements that are somehow elegant. That's where the artist decides what is art."