‘You Should Study Mathematics, Combinatorics, and Catalan Numbers instead of Playing Computer Games’
In early November, the final of the MTS True Tech Champ—which brought together more than 12,500 schoolchildren, students, and young programmers—took place. Alexander Babin, student of the HSE Faculty of Computer Science, was named the winner of the ‘Algorithmic Programming’ track.
More than 250 participants took part in the final of the True Tech Champ. The championship included two tracks: a team competition in robot programming and an individual competition in algorithmic programming in which Alexander Babin, second-year student of the Bachelor's Programme in Applied Mathematics and Information Science, took first place.
Alexander Babin
‘I would like to give everyone some advice—you should study mathematics, combinatorics, Catalan numbers, convolution operations, and other useful things instead of playing computer games. The things you studied in your first year may help you win a million roubles in the competition. Keep that in mind and solve combinatorial problems.’
Other students of the programme also showed excellent results:
Ivan Piskarev, 1st-year student, took 2nd place, 2nd degree certificate
Alexey Mikhnenko, 3rd-year student, took 5th place, 3rd degree certificate
Prokhor Larichev, 2nd-year student, took 9th place
Artyom Shulyatyev, 3rd-year student, took 12th place
During the competition, experts and scientists from the IT industry delivered speeches and lectures on the main stage. The event featured entertainment areas where participants and guests could climb a wall following an AI-generated route, write code, participate in a race of robomice, take a master class on soldering boards, and even get a tattoo.
Artyom Shulyatyev
‘Speaking of the most interesting part of the event, ie the tasks, I can say that the first five were quite simple and were solved by most experienced participants in the first half of the allotted time. The last one was a really difficult combinatorial task, which only Sasha Babin coped with.’
Pavel Voronin, Chief Technology Officer, First VP, Board Member, MTS Group
‘Many IT stars participated in the competitions in mathematics and programming, from the co-founders of major international corporations to outstanding scientists. Despite the fact that not all of them became prize-winners, the tournaments helped them to develop logical thinking, as well as learn to see opportunities and find non-standard solutions.
The environment shapes the personality in many ways, so with the help of our True Tech events, we strive to bring together many talented students interested in programming. This year, we have focused on teamwork both in the trials for the participants and in the entertainment activities in order to further motivate them to communicate and work together. It will be great if one day we find out that the creators of breakthrough projects met at a True Tech championship or conference.’
True Tech Champ is an All-Russian programming championship and IT festival that discovers talents in the field of technology and forms a new IT community in Russia. Schoolchildren, students, and established specialists can all take part in the competition.
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