The team with a student from our Faculty, Martyna Łopianiak, won the finals of the International Championships in Mathematical and Logical Games. Congratulations! The team triumphed in the L2 team category (students of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in science and engineering). The event took place on the 23rd and 24th of August, 2025, in Tunisia. 

Path to the final

To qualify for international competition, one had to go through several stages of national eliminations. In the first stage, the students had a month to solve the tasks. The next three-hour stage took place online.

– This one is more difficult. There is less time, and time is an important factor for me. There are eighteen tasks. They are more or less complex. If the organisers gave you five hours to solve them, you could probably use all that time – our student Martyna Łopianiak.

Participants who managed to pass that stage took part in the finals of the Polish Championships in Mathematical and Logical Games held at Wrocław University of Technology. The best of them, including Martyna, were nominated to participate in the international final in Tunisia. Although the competition is traditionally individual, it has been recently possible to participate in four-person student teams, which can consist of participants from different universities. And it was such a team that our student joined.

– This is a great honour. To receive such a nomination and be the only representative of WUST at the international championships – emphasises Martyna.

Passion from an early age

Martyna Lopianiak is a third-year student of Applied Computer Science at our Faculty. She has been interested in mathematics and logic games since her earliest years. She has participated in many editions of the Mathematical and Logical Games Championships. In 2019, when she was finishing secondary school, she reached the finals of an international competition in Paris.

– I was classified in the 7th place there. A success far greater than I expected. Besides, it's a cool experience. One can also visit interesting places,” admits the student. “I have always been good at logical thinking and solving puzzles and it was always fun. I find it a good way to enjoy my spare time. That is when I reach for competition tasks – she adds.

These are not tasks like those at school or in the final exams. To solve them, you don't need many mathematical formulas. They rely on logical thinking. There are many problems in combinatorics, probability, or geometry where observational skills are important.

– For example, you need to find out how many possibilities there are to do something, or how many paths exist from point A to B. And we have a complex maze drawn with numbers. We have to navigate it, passing through every square but collecting the smallest sum. Or you need to write numbers in the square in such a way that they follow a certain rule – explains Martyna.