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HMMT is an annual high school math competition that started in 1998.[1][2] The location of the tournament, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, alternates between Harvard University (November tournament) and MIT (February tournament).[3] The contest is written and staffed almost entirely by Harvard and MIT students.[4][5]

Tournament format

HMMT February is attended by teams of eight students each. Teams can represent a single school, or a regional math team as large as a state. In recent years, teams have represented over 20 states, as well as Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America.

HMMT February consists of three rounds: the Individual Round, the Team Round, and the Guts Round. No calculator or computational aids of any kind are allowed during the contest.

Individual Round

The Individual Round comprises the Algebra, Geometry, and Combinatorics exams for February, and the General and Theme exams for November. Each of the exams is 50 minutes in length and contains 10 questions. The exams are short-answer, meaning that the answers can be any real number or even an algebraic expression. Before 2012, competitors had the option to choose between a General exam or two exams in Algebra, Geometry, Combinatorics, or Calculus for the February tournament.

Team Round

For the February Team Round, the eight-person teams compete together on a 60-minute-long test. The Team Round is a collaborative event with proof-style problems, sometimes arranged into groups of several problems on the same theme. Thorough justifications are required for full credit. The Team Round is worth a total of 400 points, and problems are weighted according to difficulty. The event is similar to an ARML Power Round, but the problems are much harder and less numerous. This round is targeted at teams comfortable with rigorous mathematical proofs.

By contrast, the November Team Round is short answer style, similar to the individual rounds, but have slightly harder problems, and are worked on as a team.

Guts Round

The Guts Round is an 80-minute team event with 36 short-answer questions on an assortment of subjects, of varying difficulty and point values. Each team is seated in a predetermined spot, and the questions are divided into groups of four (in February) or three (in November). At the starting signal, each team sends a runner to an assigned problem station to pick up copies of the first set of four problems for each team member. As soon as a team has answers for one problem set, the runner may bring the answers to the problem station and pick up the next set. It is not expected that students will finish all the problems. Grading is immediate and scores are posted in real time, resulting in an exciting atmosphere for the competitors. The Guts round is worth a total of approximately 400 points.

Other events

HMMT February and November also feature events on the Friday evening prior to the tournament. Some of these events include a dinner and social for students and coaches, and Mini-Events such as math talks about famous problems and math-related games.

The top 50 competitors at HMMT February are also invited to compete in the Invitational Competition (HMIC), which is a five-question four-hour proof contest started in 2013. The problems are typically quite difficult: competitors can typically attain a high ranking by fully solving three problems.

Scoring and awards

HMMT February uses a unique scoring algorithm to rank the competitors on the Individual Rounds. While the problems on these tests are weighted according to difficulty, they are done so after the testing has completed. As explained here,[6] this helps create a very fair method for weighting problems according to their actual difficulty (as determined by how often and by whom they were solved) as opposed to their perceived difficulty prior to the tournament. The weights assigned to each problem are calculated using a scoring algorithm that takes into account which problems were solved by which students. The weights of the problems on the Team and Guts Rounds are given on the tests.

Prizes are given to the ten highest-scoring individuals overall, the top ten scorers on each of the subject rounds, the ten highest-scoring teams on the Team Round (A and B), and the ten highest-scoring teams on the Guts Round. The top ten teams overall will be named the Sweepstakes winners. The calculation of Sweepstakes scores is roughly half individual round performance and half collaborative round performance.

Difficulty

The difficulty of the competition is compared to that of ARML, the AIME, or the Mandelbrot Competition, though it is considered to be a bit harder than these contests. The contest organizers state that, "HMMT, arguably one of the most difficult math competitions in the United States, is geared toward students who can comfortably and confidently solve 6 to 8 problems correctly on the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME)." As with most high school competitions, knowledge of calculus is not required; however, calculus may be necessary to solve a select few of the more difficult problems on the Individual Rounds.

Results

The results of HMMT February can be seen below:

Year Overall Champion Individual Champion Team Round A Champion Guts Round Champion
2020 [7] Texas Momentum A Luke Robitaille Texas Momentum A Texas Momentum A
2019 [8] Texas Momentum A Daniel Zhu Texas Momentum A MoCoSwaggaSquad
2018 [9] AlphaStar Academy A* Air Luke Robitaille MoCoSwaggaSquad TJHSST
2017 [10] Phillips Exeter Academy Yuan Yao Star League A-Star Phillips Exeter Academy
2016 [11] Phillips Exeter Academy Yuan Yao Phillips Exeter Academy Florida A
2015 [12] Phillips Exeter Academy Andrew He Star League A-Star Phillips Exeter Academy
2014 [13] Phillips Exeter Academy Scott Wu Phillips Exeter Academy Star League A-Star
2013 [14] Phillips Exeter Academy James Tao Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy
2012 [15] Phillips Exeter Academy Xiaoyu He Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy
2011 [16] Saratoga High School/SFBA Xiaoyu He North Carolina Saratoga High School/SFBA
2010 [17] Phillips Exeter Academy Ben Gunby TJHSST AAST
2009 [18] TJHSST Ice Pasupat Lehigh Valley ARML Lehigh Valley ARML
2008 [19] Phillips Exeter Academy Brian Hamrick New York City Math Team Quagga
2007 [20] The WOOTlings Arnav Tripathy The WOOTlings TJHSST
2006 [21] Phillips Exeter Academy Nimish Ramanlal TJHSST AAST
2005 [22] Phillips Exeter Academy Thomas Mildorf TJHSST Florida
2004 [23] TJHSST Tiankai Liu TJHSST Phillips Exeter Academy
2003 [24] TJHSST Tony Zhang TJHSST AAST
2002 [25] Newton South High School Ricky Liu Newton South High School Lexington High School
2001 [26] Lexington High School Ricky Liu Lexington High School Newton South High School
2000 [27] Newton South High School Ricky Liu Newton South High School Newton South High School
1999 [28] Newton South High School n/a Newton South High School n/a
1998 [29] Lexington High School n/a Lexington High School n/a

HMMT November

HMMT November has been held since 2008 for teams of six students. Students are required to come from the United States to participate, and no student may compete in both November and February in a given school year. The tournament is similar in style to HMMT February, and is organized by the same Harvard and MIT students. Instead of three topic tests, HMMT November has two Individual Rounds: a General Test (ten questions from Algebra, Geometry, and Combinatorics) and a Theme Test (ten questions, many of which are tied together by a common theme). Additionally, the Team Round is entirely short answer, instead of proof-based. HMMT November is considered to be an easier alternative to HMMT February. The results of HMMT November can be seen below:

Year Overall Champion Individual Champion Team Round Champion Guts Round Champion
2015 [30] Shenzhen Foreign Languages School Yi Fan Zhu Shenzhen Foreign Languages School Shenzhen Foreign Languages School
2014 [31] Phillips Exeter Academy Jianqiao Xia Phillips Exeter Academy International Academy East
2013 [32] Beijing STFX Geyang Qin Phillips Exeter Academy Beijing STFX
2012 [33] Western Mass ARML Dhroova Aiylam Phillips Exeter Academy Western Mass ARML
2011 [34] Phillips Exeter Academy Forest Tong Lexington High School Brookline High School
2010 [35] Phillips Exeter Academy Ravi Jagadeesan Phillips Exeter Academy Lexington High School
2009 [36] ABRHS Xiaoyu He Phillips Exeter Academy ABRHS
2008 [37] Western Mass ARML Sam Trabucco Western Mass ARML Westford Academy

Sponsors

HMMT is typically sponsored by a combination of school math departments and various industry companies. The full list, which changes annually, can be found on the HMMT homepage..[38]

References

  1. ^ Tallent-Runnels, Mary K.; Candler-Lotven, Ann C. (2007-11-19). Academic Competitions for Gifted Students: A Resource Book for Teachers and Parents. Corwin Press. p. 69. ISBN 9781452294896.
  2. ^ Dalal, Neha (2012-11-12). "Students Compete in Harvard-MIT Math Tournament". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  3. ^ "The Harvard-MIT Math Tournament". Hmmt.co. Retrieved 2018-02-18.
  4. ^ Wissner-Gross, Elizabeth (2007-07-19). What High Schools Don't Tell You (And Other Parents Don't Want You toKnow): Create a Long-Term Plan for Your 7th to 10th Grader for Getting into the Top Colleges. Penguin. pp. 134–135. ISBN 9781101217719.
  5. ^ Jager-Hyman, Joie (2008-03-11). Fat Envelope Frenzy: One Year, Five Promising Students, and the Pursuit of the Ivy League Prize. HarperCollins. p. 151. ISBN 9780061257162.
  6. ^ [1][dead link‍]
  7. ^ https://hmmt-archive.s3.amazonaws.com/tournaments/2020/feb/results/short.htm
  8. ^ https://hmmt-archive.s3.amazonaws.com/tournaments/2019/feb/results/short.htm
  9. ^ https://hmmt-archive.s3.amazonaws.com/tournaments/2018/feb/results/short.htm
  10. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2017/short.htm
  11. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2016/short.txt
  12. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2015/short.txt
  13. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2014/long.txt
  14. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2013/long.txt
  15. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2012/long.txt
  16. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2011/result-detailed.txt
  17. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2010/result-detailed.txt
  18. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2009.txt
  19. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2008.txt
  20. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2007.txt
  21. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2006.txt
  22. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2005.txt
  23. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2004.txt
  24. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2003.txt
  25. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2002.txt
  26. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2001.txt
  27. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/2000.txt
  28. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/1999.txt
  29. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/february/results/1998.txt
  30. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/november/results/2015-november/short.txt
  31. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/november/results/2014-november/short.txt
  32. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/november/results/2013-november/result-nov.txt
  33. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/november/results/2012-november/result-nov.txt
  34. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/november/results/2011-november/long.txt
  35. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/november/results/2010-november/result-detailed-nov.txt
  36. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/november/results/2009-november/result-detailed-nov.txt
  37. ^ http://www.hmmt.co/static/archive/november/results/2008-november.txt
  38. ^ "HMMT". hmmt.org. Retrieved 2021-07-20.
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