Mathematics, computers and competitions: 30 years together

In 1991 took place at University of Aveiro, Portugal, the first Mathematics competition for 7th grade basic education using computers under the name CompMat. The subject was first-degree equations and in its second edition, in 1992, the name changed to Equamat remaining until now. Every year since then this competition takes place in Spring, gathering in the University of Aveiro, thousands of students from all over the country. The competition was extended to other mathematics curricular topics and other grades, from the 3rd to the 12th grade of education, and also to other scientific areas, however, the Equamat is the ex-libris competition and is still the contest that brings on itself more than 3000 students per year. The topics under competition are adjusted to the curricular objectives in Portuguese educational system and the new questions are added constantly to avoid memorization. In the beginning of each academic year trial versions of the upcoming competition are available, so that students can prepare themselves, with the help of their teachers, to the great final. Nowadays these trial versions are online, but until 2001 floppy disks were distributed to schools every year, and if there was any correction to be made, new floppy disks were sent to schools with the updated version. This paper presents a description of the competition and analyses the reasons for the high levels of participation on this event along these 30 years. Although much of the data was lost, in particular before the use of the internet, some memories of collaborators, teachers and participants, along with inquiries used in the 2015 and 2017’s editions of the competitions are used to understand the longevity of such a game.publishe