NMNJoinNMNJoinEvery team member, coach, and advisor is bound by the clauses set forth below. Violations, including plagiarism or unapproved external collaboration, result in immediate disqualification.
The competition has two divisions: High School and University. Each division has one problem.
The High School Division is for students enrolled in secondary school. The University Division is for students enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate programme.
Students enrolled in college (intermediate, A-Levels, or pre-university) programmes compete in the High School Division.
Every member must be an actively enrolled student on the date of registration.
A team competes in one division only. All members of a team must be at the same level; teams mixing levels are not accepted.
A person may be a member of one team only. The registration system enforces this by email address.
A team has one to 5 members.
Team members cannot be changed after registration.
Each team may have one advisor. An advisor may help with logistics and teach general methods before the problem is released, and must not help with the problem after it is released.
Teams must not collaborate with other teams.
Registration fees follow a tiered formula (base fee plus an increase per member). For Pakistan university teams: PKR 1,200 base + PKR 450 per member. For Pakistan high school teams: PKR 2,200 base + PKR 700 per member. For international teams (both divisions): USD 20 base + USD 6 per member.
A team is classified as national if every member's institution is in Pakistan; otherwise it is classified as international.
Payment is made by transfer to the account shown on the registration page. The team uploads proof of payment during registration. Organisers verify each payment manually.
A registration is complete only when its payment is approved. Approved teams receive a team ID and a team key.
All registration fees are non-refundable. Strictly no refunds will be issued under any circumstances.
Registration closes on to be announced.
The problem for each division is released on Friday, 6 November 2026 at 5:00 pm PKT (UTC+5).
Submissions close on Monday, 9 November 2026 at 9:00 am PKT (UTC+5). The working window is 64 hours.
Submissions received after the deadline are disqualified.
Single final submission: Once submitted, no edits, revisions, or resubmissions are permitted under any circumstances. Submissions are permanent, immutable, and final. Teams must verify each checklist requirement and confirm finality before uploading.
The submission time is the time at which the competition server finishes receiving the submission, measured by the server clock. Teams should submit well before the deadline.
Each team submits one Solution Report PDF and, if any code was used to develop the model, one Jupyter Notebook (.ipynb) file containing only Python code. No external GitHub repository links are collected or evaluated.
The PDF is organised in this order. Main solution: (1) Summary Sheet, one page, restating the problem, describing the approach, giving key results, and stating the team's choices and data sources; (2) Table of Contents, one page; (3) Solution Report; (4) a one-page memo or letter to the decision makers named in the problem. Back matter: References, Appendices (including data tables and extra figures), and the Report on Use of AI.
The four main-solution items together must not exceed 20 pages; the Solution Report therefore has at most 17 pages. References, Appendices, and the Report on Use of AI do not count toward the limit. Pages beyond the limit will not be read.
If computational code was implemented, it must be written in Python and submitted on the portal as a Jupyter Notebook (.ipynb) file alongside the solution PDF. All code must be cleanly reproducible and well-commented.
Where the problem requires a team to choose a setting, the Summary Sheet states the choice and its sources.
The team ID is the only identifier allowed on every page of the PDF and inside the Jupyter Notebook. Personal names, schools, and institutions must not appear anywhere.
The Google Drive video link is exempt from R7.1 even if the hosting Google account or URL visibly contains a personal name.
The video explains the team's model and lasts at most 5 minutes. It is a Google Drive link, with viewing access enabled, placed on the Summary Sheet in the PDF and shared with nustmathsnexus@gmail.com with Viewer access.
A team that submits no video loses 10% of its total score.
The video file on Google Drive must not be modified after the deadline. Judges may verify its modified timestamp.
Teams may use any published literature, open data, and open-source libraries. However, Python is the ONLY permitted programming language for computational modelling and data analysis.
Teams must state and justify every assumption. Data that was invented rather than sourced must be clearly marked.
One consistent citation style (for example APA or IEEE) is used throughout, and every reference must be accurate.
Teams may use language models and other AI tools. Every use must be disclosed in the report, stating which model was used and for what purpose, with inline citations and entries in the references.
Teams append a Report on Use of AI after the references and appendices.
Teams must verify the accuracy, validity and appropriateness of all AI-generated content and citations, and correct errors.
Teams must check original sources to make sure no one else's work is copied.
Judging criteria: Submissions are evaluated on: (1) Mathematical modelling quality, rigor, and realistic parameter discipline; (2) Sensitivity analysis, robustness, and trade-off exploration; (3) Clarity, organisation, and conciseness of the Summary Sheet, Solution Report, and Decision-maker Memo/Letter; (4) Quality of the 5-minute explanatory video walkthrough; (5) Academic integrity, source citations, and comprehensive disclosure in the Report on Use of AI; and (6) Reproducibility and clarity of Python code in the submitted .ipynb notebook.
The base prize pool is PKR 20,000 for the High School Division and PKR 20,000 for the University Division (PKR 40,000 total). Cash prizes are awarded to 1st place in each division. All members of every registered team receive an official Certificate of Participation. Winning teams receive a Certificate of Merit / Winner Certificate. Prize pools grow dynamically as verified registrations exceed PKR 60,000 in total revenue.
Decisions of the organisers and judges are final.
Winner announcements & feedback: Winners will be announced on the website and notified via email. The organizers will also provide general feedback and commentary on the problem after the competition concludes so teams can review key insights and common pitfalls.
Questions go to nustmathsnexus@gmail.com. Answers that clarify a rule are published here with a version bump.