How to deal with someone who cheated on a math contest?

Hello fellow brilliant members.

I am 99.9% sure that a classmate of mine cheated on a math olympiad contest (the USA Mathematical Talent Search/USAMTS) because of several reasons. I'll save you the details, but he scores low (average 3) out of 6 at mathletes meets (he's not on the A-team). And, he has never qualified for the AIME (of the people who didn't qualify, he wasn't in the top 3. The top 3 scorers were in the high 80's range).

Yet somehow he managed to submit 15 flawless proofs on much harder problems. Me and my fellow mathletes and classmates (along with the Calculus teacher) are very dubious of his achievements.

Do you guys have any suggestions on how to deal with abominations as this? Is it best to just leave it alone? If not, how can I and how should I report it?

Thanks for reading. I hope this fits the submitting guidelines as I think the brilliant community will be good at answering this question.

#Competitions #Math

Easy Math Editor

This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.

When posting on Brilliant:

Use the emojis to react to an explanation, whether you're congratulating a job well done , or just really confused .
Ask specific questions about the challenge or the steps in somebody's explanation. Well-posed questions can add a lot to the discussion, but posting "I don't understand!" doesn't help anyone.
Try to contribute something new to the discussion, whether it is an extension, generalization or other idea related to the challenge.
Stay on topic — we're all here to learn more about math and science, not to hear about your favorite get-rich-quick scheme or current world events.

Markdown	Appears as
`italics` or `_italics_`	italics
`bold` or `__bold__`	bold
- bulleted - list	bulleted list
1. numbered 2. list	numbered list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1 paragraph 2	paragraph 1 paragraph 2
`[example link](https://brilliant.org)`	example link
`> This is a quote`	This is a quote
# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"	# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `$` ... `$` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$

Comments

Keep in mind that with the USAMTS, you are given over a month to solve the problems and write up solutions. It is possible that your classmate is just not good at speed based contests.

You could try emailing the USAMTS about it. However, I don't think they'll do anything about it without actual proof of him cheating. Depending on if and how he cheats, this may be very difficult and/or impossible to obtain.

Jimmy Kariznov - 7 years, 10 months ago

Yes, this is true. I considered this before considering him as a cheater. However I feel that the difference in levels are just so great that I feel that it is impossible, even if he is better with time. In terms of brilliant.org, in time-based competitions he has shown a level3/level4 level of math. I don't think that can translate to a perfect score on a test as hard as the USAMTS, especially since he is a high school student. But maybe I am being too stubborn. Thanks for the comment.

Michael Tong - 7 years, 10 months ago

I agree with Jimmy. To do well on the AIME you need to either work very quickly, or have a lot of practice recognizing and solving similar types of problems and know all of the "tricks." For the USAMTS you can (very) leisurely research or derive yourself all of the results and tricks you need to solve the problems. I think it's plausible someone might do well on one contest and not on the other.

Etienne Vouga - 7 years, 10 months ago

It's not that he didn't do well on the AIME, it's that he didn't qualify for it

Michael Tong - 7 years, 10 months ago

don't think of others ,just see if you are in the right path

Prajwal Kavad - 7 years, 2 months ago

not everyone is fast at doing math your class most be fast paced and what the heck what type of classmates feels dubious about another p.s for your classmate "the haters gonna hate

Edwin Macias - 4 years, 4 months ago

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `\(` ... `\)` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$