General Information

A student run-organization founded at the University of California, Berkeley in the early 2010’s, the Berkeley Math Tournament (BMT) and Berkeley mini-Math Tournament (BmMT) gather students from the Bay Area and elsewhere to celebrate mathematics and the spirit of mathematical competition.

Mission and Core Values

For over a decade, the Berkeley Math Tournament has built a culture of excellence. We use the “Math Tournament” as a tool for fostering academic growth, integrity, and community for middle and high school students. Our organization regards the Math Tournament as an event where students are encouraged to excel in themes central to future studies in mathematics, and where such excellence is motivated and rewarded. The Berkeley Math Tournament has attracted some of the brightest students in the world, and while competitive — encouraging students to excel beyond the limits of a classroom — our tournament is open to all students who demonstrate academic commitment and a passion for mathematics. We are committed and passionate about creating an enjoyable educational experience for all of our tournament goers.

Our team strives beyond an isolated environment of educational idealism, and is a close-knit community where real impact is promoted by every one of our members. Our values — integrity, teamwork, inclusion, and excellence — structure all the work that we do.

Vision

To promote the study of themes central to a future study in mathematics, and to build an engaging global community of middle school and high school math students.

Mission

To design, create, and host a holistic and high-quality math tournament that provides an engaging and challenging experience to each of our hundreds of participants.

Focus

Our focus revolves around creating a holistic and high-quality math tournament that impacts participants, educators, and our team.

Participants – We provide participants engagement with unique and interesting math problems in a setting that fosters individual excellence, teamwork, and friendship.

Educators – We provide a unique, collaborative, and world-class educational experience impossible to build in any one classroom.

Our Team – We promote team-work, inclusion, integrity, and excellence. The Berkeley Math Tournament provides our members opportunities for real impact and values, recognizes, and celebrates our members for their work.

History

BMT was founded by Jing Jing Li and Soumya Basu in 2011 and the first contest was in 2012. It has persisted for more than eight years since its initiation. At the time only one hundred students showed up to a relatively small math competition. Today, we have around 700 middle school students for BmMT and 1200 high school students for BMT including Olympiad-level mathletes.

Special Thanks

We are indebted to the faculty and staff of UC Berkeley’s departments of Mathematics and EECS, and in particular, Professors Claire Tomlin, Lauren Williams, Arthur Ogus, and Kenneth Ribet.