The contest portion of the Iowa Regional Math Tournament consists of multiple individual contests and an overall team contest between teams of up to six students. Students take two individual subject tests in the areas of Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, or Advanced Topics. Alternatively, less experienced students may take a single, longer General Test. Teams participate in a Team Test with short answer questions from various disciplines and a Power Round, a multi-part proof-oriented test. The tournament will run all day from 9 AM until 6 PM.
Registration for IRMT 2013 is now open. We will send email confirmation of registration submissions.
In an effort to promote math among young people, there is no cost to sign up for this competition. Students who plan to attend the award ceremony should bring money for lunch. Please register by 4:00 PM, January 25 here. If you would like to register after that time or on the competition site, please email us at iowa.rmt@gmail.com.
The Team Test is a 50-minute exam consisting of 15 short answer questions, testing material from all areas of high school mathematics.
The Power Round is a 90-minute, multi-part, proof-oriented test. It focuses on a single topic that will be revealed and introduced at the beginning of the test.
The entire team will collaborate on the Team Test and the Power Round. Teams may not collaborate with each other.
The Subject Area Tests are 50-minute individual exams consisting of 10 short answer questions. The subjects offered are Advanced Topics, Algebra, Calculus, and Geometry. The Advanced Topics test covers probability, number theory, and combinatorics. Students may choose any two of the subjects.
The General Test is a 110-minute test that is designed for students with less mathematical background. It is held at the same time as the subject area tests and contains 25 short answer questions.
Students may take two subject tests, or the general test. Participants may not collaborate on the individual tests.
See the mathematical expectations document for guidelines on the topics that may appear on each test.
See the common mathematical notions document for a list of mathematical conventions used at IRMT.
Anyone tied for a top three position on an individual test will qualify for a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker will consist of three problems in the appropriate subject area and will last for 15 minutes. Participants submit answers to the problems as they solve them, and may answer problems in any order. Participants may submit multiple times for any of the problems, but only the last submission for a given problem will be graded.
Ties are first broken in favor of the participant who answers the most questions correctly. In the event that multiple participants solve the same number of problems, the tie is then broken by the time of the last correct submission: the tie is broken in favor of the participant with the earliest last correct submission.
In the unlikely event that a tie for a top three position still stands after the tiebreaker, we may allow the tie to stand, or we may hold a second tiebreaker for the participants that are still tied. The second tiebreaker will consist of one problem in the appropriate subject area. Participants may submit an answer to the problem at any time, and will immediately be told whether the answer was correct or incorrect. Participants may submit multiple times. The tie is broken in favor of the participant that solves the problem earliest.
The following may be used during the contest:
Scratch paper will be provided at the contest.
The following may not be used on any portion of the contest:
See the acceptable answer formats document for rules on answer simplification.
There will be a normalized scoring system to account for relative difficulties of individual tests. A team's overall score will consist of the following: 50% is an average of the normalized individual round scores, and the remaining 50% is based on the team and power rounds.
Students and teams will receive certificates and plaques as is typical of a math competition of this sort.