ODE-Integration Bee

🐝✨ The ODE-Integration Bee is here!
A little math, a little motion, and this time… with sound. 🔊

From Vienna:
Something elegant is coming.
This time, with sound.
Launching today at 12:00 PM CEST (Central European Summer Time) 🔊

ODE-Integration Bee: Phase One Complete

By Abdulhafeez Abdulsalam

Yesterday, Apple unveiled the iPhone 17 lineup, including the ultra-thin iPhone Air. Big launches are a reminder that careful design and small details matter. In that same spirit, we are delighted to share that phase one of the ODE-Integration Bee website is live.

The idea for this initiative took shape at the University of Ibadan, where I first brought students together in the Mathematics Department to organize an Integration Bee-style event. Following a kind recommendation from Emanuel Carneiro, I was shortlisted for a summer school at the University of Ljubljana. That experience allowed me to learn more about the kind of research conducted there and to interact with students from across Europe, including Czechia, Slovenia, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Serbia, Croatia, UK, and so on. Notably, I was the only African participant.

In conversation with a student from Czechia, we explored blending the traditional Integration Bee with special functions and extending it across regions. Integration is central to analysis, and many integrals admit closed forms expressed via special functions, which have shaped major results. For example, the book Special Functions by Andrews, Askey, and Roy discusses Apéry’s celebrated proof of the irrationality of ζ(3). Similarly, Zudilin proved that at least one of ζ(5), ζ(7), ζ(9), or ζ(11) is irrational. This is presented in Atul Dixit’s 2024 exposition, Recent developments pertaining to Ramanujan’s formula for odd zeta values, which he kindly shared with me.

Our format. We plan short, accessible seminars introducing special functions, followed by a fast-paced quiz in the familiar "bee" style.

The website. A small team from the University of Ibadan built the site: I led the project and contributed the animations and editorial guidance; Bukola supported design and implementation; and Olofin provided technical suggestions. Visit our website.

If you have visited before, please clear your browser cache to see the latest version.

What is next. We are developing an online quiz experience proposed by our colleague from Czechia. The quiz section already exists on the site, and after nearly two months of continuous work we will pause until October 1 to refine and finalize it.

Thank you for your interest and support. We look forward to welcoming students, educators, enthusiasts, and sponsors as we celebrate the art of integration.