Bimo Adityarahman Wiraputra Wins Gold Medal in International Mathematics Competition in Bulgaria
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id - Another proud achievement was achieved by a student from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) on the international stage. This time, the achievement was achieved by Bimo Adityarahman Wiraputra, a student of the Informatics Engineering Study Program, STEI-ITB, in the 2018 International Mathematic Competition (IMC) in Bulgaria.
In the competition, which took place from July 22-28, 2018, in Blagoevrad, Bimo won the gold medal, or first prize, after competing against 351 other participants from various countries, including nine other delegates from Indonesia. This impressive achievement has undoubtedly brought honor to Indonesia and the ITB academic community in particular.
Bimo himself admitted he never expected to win a gold medal in the competition. He is grateful for being able to bring honor to ITB on the international stage. He dedicated the medal to his beloved alma mater, his parents, his teammates, and his mentors. "I'm definitely happy and grateful to have won; it's a source of pride," Bimo said.
He said there was no special preparation for the competition, only that he often worked on problems together with his mentor and teammates. At home, he also often reread books and topics that would be tested in the test. He admitted that the questions tested in the IMC were indeed more difficult than the Olympiad. "During the competition, there were several questions tested, ranging from easy, medium, and difficult levels, all of which he was able to pass well," he said.
Bimo, who is passionate about real-world analysis and combinatorics in mathematics, continued, saying that after winning the gold medal, he would focus more on studying informatics, in line with his current study program. His experience participating in the IMC and the FMIPA Olympiad provided him with the necessary skills to study even harder. "I've certainly gained a lot of valuable experience from there," said Bimo, who also participated in Olympiads in middle and high school.
Afif Humam, M.Si, a young lecturer in the Algebra Expertise Group, Mathematics Study Program, FMIPA-ITB, said that this achievement was the second time after previously in 2015, ITB student Muhammad Al-Kahfi also received first prize in the same event. "We are quite happy to finally be able to get first prize again. Last year we got second prize and third prize, so this year we even managed to qualify 4 people, an achievement also from the Indonesian team contingent," he said to reporters itb.ac.id via telephone.
Afif Humam himself was Bimo and his team's mentor in the event. Besides Bimo, three other ITB students from the Mathematics Study Program participated in IMC 2018. They were Hopein Cristofen Tang, who won Third Prize; Laurence Petrus Wijaya, who received Honorable Mention; and Mochammad Zulfikar Aditya, who also received Honorable Mention.
Those participating in the 2018 IMC had previously gone through a selection process. The selection process involved 20 students who had won medals and honorable mentions at the National Mathematics and Natural Sciences Olympiad in May 2018. ITB represented the largest number of participants, with six students. The 20 participants were then narrowed down to nine who qualified for the IMC.
Afif said that during the guidance process, Bimo and his friends mostly studied the questions on their own. This was because they had been given maximum guidance during the ON MIPA several months ago, which was not that far from the IMC 2018. "The provision that I did was more in preparation for the MIPA Olympiad yesterday. I explained that the levels of ON MIPA are different. I gave them sample questions, the rest of them studied on their own. Yesterday, I lent some people files or books to study," he said.
He said ITB arguably has an advantage when participating in competitions like ON MIPA or IMC. This is because the questions on the course exams are almost at the same level as ON MIPA. "So, in terms of training, as instructors here, we don't provide much material. Because they already have their own lecture material, we only help provide exercises for them to work on themselves, so this is more dominant, this is the result of their own learning," he said.
He hopes that in the future, many other ITB students will participate in competitions and bring honor to ITB and Indonesia. The key to reaching that level is simply diligent and persistent study. "If you study regularly and diligently, God willing, you can compete," he concluded.