Note:

Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 8:00:14 PDT
From: C-reuters@clari.net (Reuters)
Subject: Romanian defeats 429 students to top math test
Organization: Copyright 1996 by Reuters

         BOMBAY, India (Reuter) - A Romanian has beaten 429 teenagers  
from 75 countries to top the 37th International Mathematical 
Olympiad (IMO), the contest's organizers said  Tuesday. 
         Ciprian Manolescu, 17, was the only contestant to score a  
perfect 42 on the test's six questions, the organisers said. 
         ``I solved the problems little by little,'' Manolescu, who  
reads Dostoyevsky and listens to Bach in his spare time, told 
Reuters. ``It took me quite a while to believe I had won.'' 
         Romania headed the league table of the Olympiad, closely  
followed by the United States, Hungary, Russia, the United 
Kingdom and China. 
         The IMO was held in India's commercial capital of Bombay  
last week and the results were announced Tuesday. 
         Manolescu, from Pitesti in Romania, said he discovered his  
talent at the age of six, after winning a national contest. 
         The mathematics Olympiads originated in Russia just before  
World War II to help the Soviets identify young talent and 
channel it into mathematics careers. 
         Argentina will host next year's Olympiad.