Selection and introduction of 6 question types
The so-called 6 question types suggest the content of some questions, but if they are used as the basis for selecting a question, their effect is very limited. It may be more helpful to understand the difference between MCM and ICM for better topic selection. Which question you choose is not particularly important, it is important to choose the topic "as soon as possible." The competition time is fixed, the longer the time to choose the topic, the less time to do the topic. It takes 1 hour to choose the topic, which means 1 hour less time for modeling and writing thesis. What awards can be won depends mainly on strength, and secondly on luck. The more prepared, the greater the chance of winning. If you don't want to try your luck, get ready early.
First of all, MCM/ICM (since 2016) has 6 questions per year, not 6 questions. MCM is ABC three questions, and ICM is DEF three questions.
The description of the 6 question types is not strictly divided, and the angle and basis are different. Continuous and discrete refer to the type of model, data insights refer to the characteristics of the problem data, operations research/network science and environmental science refer to the disciplines involved in the problem, and environmental science and policy refer to the background of the problem itself. This is not to divide the topics according to the same standard, there is overlap between them. Most obviously, if continuous and discrete are considered to be complementary, then the other four topics should be classified into one of them.
Secondly, these one or two word descriptions are too general and broad to reflect the specific characteristics of the topic
In particular, the descriptions of questions A, B, and F provide very little information, which is almost equal to nothing. Continuous and discrete include all models. The scope of policy is too wide. Humans dominate the world, and policy issues may be involved in all aspects. Moreover, question F was newly added in 2016, only the question for the year of 2016 (refugee problem), and there is no pattern for the time being.
The characteristics of questions C and D are relatively specific. For example, in response to the newly added C questions in MCM since 2016, COMAP (Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications) has released a document (Chinese introduction) to explain its characteristics. To sum it up, MCM's C question is related to data. Although it cannot be called big data, the compressed package is also more than 100MB. Compared with other MCM/ICM questions, the amount of data is large (in fact, the previous MCM/ICM questions are very Give less data), which requires that the team that chooses this topic should be familiar with the basic methods of data processing, including pre-processing, post-processing, etc., and master the corresponding programming skills or the use of related software. In terms of models and methods, it may focus on statistics and pattern recognition. For example, if Question D is a network science problem, the models, algorithms, and software used are relatively concentrated, and there are rules to follow.
In recent years, network science has been a hot research field, and there are many algorithms and software including visualization software. If you are familiar with related knowledge and software in this field, you can focus on Question D when choosing a topic. Question E environmental science will generally focus on environmental pollution, resource shortage, sustainable development, and ecological protection. It has a certain prompting effect on the background of the problem, but the scope is still very wide, and the model and method have no obvious characteristics. Therefore, it is obviously impossible to select a topic based on these prompts. At most, exclude a topic without considering it (for example, a team with poor calculation ability may not choose Question C). It may be more helpful to understand the difference between MCM competition and ICM competition only from the perspective of topic selection.