170 Participants at the International Mathematics Competition Náboj in Hamburg

16 March 2026, by MIN-Dekanat

Photo: UHH/MIN

Last Friday, 170 students from Hamburg and the surrounding region took part in the international mathematics competition Náboj. The Hamburg round of the competition was once again held in the Geomatikum at the Department of Mathematics at the University of Hamburg.

During the two-hour competition, teams aimed to solve as many mathematical problems as possible. In addition to mathematical knowledge, teamwork, creativity, and logical thinking were essential. The 38 participating teams demonstrated these skills in the Geomatikum.

The senior team from Christianeum stood out in particular: with 32 problems solved, they took first place in the German rankings and finished 46th internationally out of nearly 1,000 senior teams competing worldwide. In the junior category, the team from Gymnasium Wentorf achieved the best Hamburg result with 29 solved problems, placing ninth nationwide.

Prof. Dr. Paul Wedrich, professor at the Department of Mathematics and principal investigator in Collaborative Research Centre 1624 as well as the Cluster of Excellence Quantum Universe, welcomed the students and moderated the competition. “It is a great pleasure to see how much the competition in Hamburg has grown over the past three years since we brought it to the city – and that so many teams made it to us despite the school holidays,” said Wedrich. For the third consecutive year, the Hamburg competition was organized by doctoral researcher Karim Ritter von Merkl, whom Wedrich congratulated on this success. Between the competition and the announcement of the results, participants also gained insights into mathematical research at the department: doctoral researchers Alea Hofstetter and Leon Goertz spoke about their research and their paths into mathematics. Bachelor's student Ha An Nguyen worked through selected challenging problems from this year's competition together with the participants.

Náboj is an international mathematics competition for teams of up to five students from the same school. Within 120 minutes, teams attempt to solve as many problems as possible. Each team begins with six problems; once a problem is solved, the team receives a new, slightly more difficult one. At the end, the teams that have solved the most problems win.

There are two categories: in the junior category, teams consist of students who are not in their final or penultimate year of school. In the senior category, teams may be freely composed of students from the same school. In addition to promoting logical thinking and mathematical creativity, the competition also emphasizes collaboration—a key skill that is equally essential in top-level mathematical research.

In Germany, the competition was held this year in Hamburg, Leipzig, Paderborn, Passau, Tübingen, and Würzburg. Internationally, students from 16 countries took part: Estonia, the United Kingdom, Morocco, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Uzbekistan—across 50 cities worldwide.

The next Náboj competition will take place on 12 March 2027.