For a century and a half, the scene of mathematics competitions underwent a remarkable transformation from isolated and geographically scattered events to a full-scale and a full-featured vibrant global ecosystem comprising an impressive variety of competitions, school students, university students, teachers, mentors, scientists, schools,…

In this paper, we consider mathematical competitions for pre-university students, such as the "International Mathematical Olympiad" (IMO) and many national and regional Olympiads following a similar model. The problems proposed in these contests must be solvable by 'elementary' methods (i.e., without using calculus) and belong…