[2] Among their objectives, they serve the purpose of identifying talented or gifted students in mathematics, who often receive opportunities for scholarships at universities.
[6] The concept of mathematics competitions dates back to the late 19th century.
[7] A better-documented Eötvös Competition in Hungary became one of the earliest organized contests in 1894.
[7] USSR introduced regular math olympiads in the 1930s, and the predecessor of the Putnam Competition started in 1938 in the US.
[9] Modern olympiad mathematics can be split into four categories: algebra, combinatorics, geometry, and number theory.