About Baltic Way

Baltic Way is a mathematical contest for teams of students from countries all around the Baltic Sea. The geographical description is understood in a wider sense. The participating countries are Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia (traditionally represented by a team from St. Petersburg), and Sweden. Each participating country sends a team of five high school students. In the contest, each team works together to solve a set of 20 hard math problems in four hours. To achieve this goal, the team has to rely also on cooperation and mutual help. This feature sets the competition apart from most other mathematical contests, where each contestant works on her/his own and competes against all others.

History

Baltic Way started in 1990 to commemorate the chain of two million people demonstrating peacefully for the freedom of the Baltic nations. Originally only these nations – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – participated, but starting in 1992 the contest soon expanded to include all countries around the Baltic Sea, and all Nordic countries. Finland first hosted the contest in 1996, a second time in 2006, and is hosting it again in 2016.

Organizers

The 2016 Baltic Way contest will be organized by the Training Division of the Finnish Mathematical Society, in cooperation with the University of Oulu and the Oulu chapter of the Association of Teachers of Mathematical Subjects (MAOL).

The organizing committee consists of docent Matti Lehtinen, docent Anne-Maria Ernvall-Hytönen, lecturer Eero Ijäs (MAOL), Bachelor of Science Kati Kyllönen (OuLUMA), and lecturer Maija-Liisa Spangar. The scientific advisory committee comprises Docent Kerkko Luosto, Dr Antti Honkela, Dr Jouni Seppänen and Master of Science Joni Teräväinen.

Sponsors

The contest is sponsored by: