A vocational school student in China who wowed the public in June by finishing near the top in the preliminary round of a math contest was helped by her teacher in violation of the rules, the organizers said this week. An investigation found that the math teacher’s assistance broke a rule of “no discussion with others,” the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition Organizing Committee said Sunday. For this, we express our sincere apologies,” the organizing committee said. The teacher, Wang Runqiu, also entered the contest and finished 125th in the preliminary round. Damo Academy, the contest organizer, didn’t respond to an email, and a call to the vocational school was unanswered on Tuesday.

---

Persons: Jiang Ping, Jack Ma, Wang Runqiu, Jiang, Wang, didn’t Organizations: Cambridge, MIT, Caltech, Jiangsu Lianjiang Vocational, Damo Academy Locations: China, China’s Jiangsu, Jiangsu