Success is logical for Perse team at International Olympiad
A trio of Perse students kept their minds on the job to finish runners-up in the International Logic Olympiad (ILO).
Neelkantha (Upper Sixth), Hercules (Lower Sixth) and Ryan (Year 11) were joined by Texas-based team-mate Arav for the ILO at Stanford University after making it through a series of online qualifying rounds.
They were one of just 11 teams that made it through to the finals, where they faced a series of three exams featuring proof-based questions involving symbolic logic in which they had to evaluate the validity of logical statements, construct logical proofs to prove statements based on certain premises, or detect whether statements could be proven at all.
A puzzles round featured classic brainteasers such as sudoku, as well as other mindboggling logic-based challenges.
Meanwhile, the games round saw teams go head-to-head across several strategy games including Connect 4, Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe (a 9×9 variant of noughts and crosses), Hex and Pentago. The Perse players came joint-first in the games section, winning seven out of 10 matches.
Neelkantha said: “It was an honour to even reach the finals, so achieving second place was a superlative experience.
“Although most of the proof-based questions were similar to the online rounds, some questions were much harder. There was a monster 40-line proof in exam two when they were typically below 25 lines.
“We also learned how to adapt to new constraints and the unexpected. For instance, in the third exam, we were only allowed one computer on in which we could enter proofs digitally, yet we had 10 proofs to complete in 75 minutes when the usual number was five!
“At first, it sounded like a mission almost impossible. To succeed, we divided and conquered. We split up the questions in terms of the types of proofs required, recognised our complementary skills and played to our strengths.
“Half our team even started to go analogue, writing the proofs on whiteboards, but we somehow managed to complete that exam in 28 minutes!”
Even when not taking part in the formal competition, there was plenty to keep minds active with fun workshops in number puzzles, matchstick puzzles, card tricks and other team activities.
The team also enjoyed a tour of the Stanford campus after the final exam.
Neelkantha said: “The buildings, the scenery and the campus were all stunning and quite beautiful. I was also able to visit the Cantor Arts Centre after the camp, which I was very moved by. There are amazing works of Rodin displayed outdoors in the sculpture garden, the foreboding Gates of Hell and the iconic Thinker greeting visitors in the foyer.”
Aside from their excellent result, Neelkantha felt the team had gained much from taking part in ILO.
He said: “The experience was beyond compare. We learned about different perspectives to solving problems. Thinking of the goal and reverse engineering the optimal solution, for example, provided a new way of thinking about puzzles that were challenging.
“In the games round, we maximised our strategy in Hex by spotting key patterns, by understanding the rationale behind other players’ gameplay, and it ensured our victory.
“The bottom line is we could all probably attempt the challenges and succeed in solving them individually, but teamwork allowed much faster and error-free solutions and was much more fun.”