(ECNS) -- A 17-year-old student from a secondary vocational school made history by securing 12th place globally in the 2024 Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition, becoming the first vocational school student ever to reach the finals.
Jiang Ping is from Lianshui Secondary Vocational School in Jiangsu Province, majoring in fashion design. She has developed a deep passion for mathematics, dedicating two years to mastering partial differential equations during her spare time.
The list of finalists released by the organizing committee reveals that among the 801 contestants who advanced, the majority are from prestigious universities, such as Tsinghua, Peking, MIT, and Cambridge.
During the two-day preliminaries, Jiang Ping spent every waking moment outside of meals and sleep tackling problems, aiming to demonstrate that "girls can excel in mathematics as well."
The competition is characterized by broad public participation.
They come from all walks of life, including doctors and delivery personnel, who, despite their daily professional commitments, regard mathematics as their “secret garden."
The finals of this year's Alibaba Mathematics Competition will be held on June 22nd (Saturday), from 0:00 to 24:00 Beijing time. Contestants can choose any continuous 8-hour period within the 24-hour window to answer the questions. The winners will share a prize pool of more than 4 million yuan (about $552,000).