Top Math Minds Gather in Ostrava

Talented university students from around the world will compete again in Ostrava on April 22. The Faculty of Science at the University of Ostrava will host the 33rd Vojtěch Jarník International Mathematical Competition. Participants will compete in two categories.

The Department of Mathematics at the Faculty of Science (KMA PřF OU) will for the 33rd time bring together gifted students from the Czech Republic and abroad.

“103 students from 23 universities and 13 countries have registered for this year’s edition. Representatives from Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Central Asia will arrive in Ostrava. We believe everything is ready and we are looking forward to welcoming the participants,” says Dr. Lukáš Mocek, representing the organizing team at KMA PřF OU.

Thanks to support from Wincent, students will face exciting mathematical challenges in the two competition categories on April 22.

“In each category, participants must solve four problems from different areas of mathematics, prepared by the jury. The selection of problems is always a matter of discussion among the jury members. At the same time, we want the beauty of mathematics to fully emerge in their solutions, so that participants do not leave Ostrava with nightmares from the problems or failure. A unique feature of the competition is that we do not have to have only a single winner in each category,” smiles Professor Jaroslav Hančl, founder of the competition at KMA PřF OU.

As tradition, a supplementary program will also be offered. This year’s lecture, led by Professor Piotr Oproch from the Institute for Research and Applications of Fuzzy Modeling, will take place at 3 p.m. in room M427. It will focus on the mathematical principles of chaos, explain how deterministic systems can be unpredictable, and present the tools used to analyze them. The award ceremony for the most successful participants will be held on April 23.

“It feels like yesterday when we congratulated last year’s winners. I am very glad that our Department of Mathematics has again managed to attract talents from various parts of the Czech Republic and Europe. I believe they will enjoy their time with us and I wish them all the best to enjoy the competition,” concludes the Dean of the Faculty of Science, Dr. Zuzana Václavíková.

The Vojtěch Jarník International Mathematical Competition was founded in 1991 by Professor Jaroslav Hančl, continuing the tradition of the now-defunct ISTAM competition. Thanks to this continuity, it is today the oldest mathematical competition for university students in the European Union.

Updated: 20. 04. 2026