Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications

What Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications does

COMAP (Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications) is a non-profit mathematics education organization founded in 1980 and headquartered at 175 Middlesex Turnpike, Suite 3B, Bedford, Massachusetts. Its mission is to improve mathematics education by emphasizing mathematical modeling and creating learning environments where mathematics is used to investigate real-world issues. COMAP serves middle school, high school, and undergraduate students, as well as educators and academic institutions, reaching teams from 20+ countries through international contests and curriculum resources. Its primary customer segments are students participating in modeling contests, teachers integrating modeling materials into classrooms, and schools/institutions purchasing memberships and bulk textbook orders.

COMAP's product portfolio is anchored by six international math modeling contests — MCM (Mathematical Contest in Modeling), ICM (Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling), HiMCM, MidMCM, SCUDEM, and IM²C (International Mathematical Modeling Challenge) — that together field tens of thousands of student teams annually. Complementary offerings include the quarterly UMAP Journal, the Mathmodels.org membership platform, the Discrete Mathematics: Modeling Our World 5th Edition textbook, the Refresh for Relevance (R4R) Project for modernizing legacy content, the BioMath Connection modules, The Elementary Mathematician K-6 newsletter, an award-winning Video Library, and the recently integrated SIMIODE differential-equations resources. The underlying technology is an online digital platform for membership, contest registration, and content distribution, hosting 1,500+ digital resources. The BioMath Connection was developed with DIMACS/Rutgers and Colorado State University, and SIMIODE integration brings the SCUDEM differential-equations contest and SIMIODE Expo in-house.

COMAP's revenue model is multi-stream: individual and institutional membership subscriptions (freemium and paid Full tiers with classroom-licensing rights for modules), contest registration fees per team, one-time textbook and publication sales (e.g., Discrete Mathematics: Modeling Our World at $175 per single copy or $140 each at 25+), USB/CD-ROM software and DVD product licenses, and print subscriptions to the UMAP Journal. Distribution is primarily direct via comap.com, supplemented by conference presence (including MAA MathFest 2026 in Boston, booth 200) and institutional networks. The organization co-convenes the Modernizing Undergraduate Math Summit with TPSE Math, AMS, SIAM, MAA, ASA, and AMATYC, and partners with NCTM, INFORMS, and Regeneron ISEF for award administration — anchoring an ecosystem that reinforces its position in math education governance. With 11–50 employees and over four decades of operating history, COMAP runs a lean non-profit that scales globally through content IP, contests, and society partnerships.

Name

Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications

Legal name

COMAP, Inc.

Website

https://comap.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

COMAP is a non-profit founded in 1980 that runs international math modeling contests (MCM, ICM, HiMCM, MidMCM, SCUDEM, IM²C) and provides textbooks, the UMAP Journal, and digital resources to middle school, high school, and undergraduate students, educators, and institutions across 20+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mathematics Education

NAICS

Exam Preparation and Tutoring (611691), Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (61131)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Math Competition Administration Services (Proctoring, Grading, Logistics) (EDAMAEAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

Competition Coaching & Training Programs (AMC/AIME/USAMO/MathCounts) (EDAMAEAA), Olympiad-Style Proof & Advanced Topics Programs (Number Theory/Combinatorics/Geometry) (EDAMAEAD), Math Intervention & Numeracy Support Programs (EDAJAGAG), Math Intervention & Numeracy Materials (Special Education) (EDAGAMAI)

Keywords

• Mathematical modeling contests
• Mathematics education resources
• Curriculum development services
• Professional development math
• Academic publishing journals

Headquarters

HQ city

Bedford

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Subscriptions: Individual web memberships come with license to duplicate modules for classroom use. Full membership provides access to complete library of modeling modules and publications. Free membership tier available.
2. Book and Publication Sales: Sale of textbooks such as Discrete Mathematics: Modeling Our World (5th edition), UMAP Journal print subscriptions, and Teacher USB drives.
3. Software and Digital Product Licensing: USB/CD-ROM software products with single-computer license restrictions. Video VHS/DVD products.
4. Contest Registration: Teams pay fees to participate in MCM, ICM, HiMCM, MidMCM, and IM²C competitions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

COMAP operates international mathematical modeling contests at the middle school, high school, and undergraduate levels (MCM, ICM, HiMCM, MidMCM, SCUDEM, IM²C) and sells supporting educational products including the UMAP Journal quarterly publication, textbooks such as Discrete Mathematics: Modeling Our World, USB/CD-ROM software, and the Mathmodels.org membership platform. The organization also offers individual and institutional membership tiers that grant access to over 1,500 digital modeling resources, modules, and historical publications.

Product overview

COMAP is an award-winning non-profit organization that provides a comprehensive mathematics education ecosystem centered on mathematical modeling. The organization operates primarily through its portfolio of international math modeling contests (MCM, ICM, HiMCM, MidMCM, SCUDEM, IM²C) complemented by educational publications and resources. Key products include the UMAP Journal (quarterly publication with teaching modules), Mathmodels.org membership platform, SIMIODE differential equations resources, and the Refresh for Relevance Project for modernizing classic materials. Membership tiers include Free Membership (access to current UMAP issues and select resources) and Full Membership (complete library access). COMAP also publishes textbooks including Discrete Mathematics: Modeling Our World (5th Edition), and maintains a Video Library, Conferences & Meetings program, and The Elementary Mathematician K-6 newsletter. The organization recently integrated SIMIODE to expand its modeling-first approach to differential equations education.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• MCM (Mathematical Contest in Modeling) International undergraduate contest where teams of up to three students research, model, and solve open-ended real-world problems over a single weekend.
• ICM (Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling) International contest requiring teams to merge expertise from diverse STEM and humanities fields to address multifaceted real-world challenges.
• HiMCM (High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling) Contest for high school students to form teams of up to four students to model and solve open-ended real-world problems, producing a complete technical report.
• MidMCM (Middle Mathematical Contest in Modeling) Mathematical modeling contest for middle school students, often featuring team-based problem solving on real-world scenarios.
• SCUDEM (Student Challenge Using Differential Equations Modeling) Student challenge focused on using differential equations modeling to solve real-world problems, now part of the SIMIODE integration.
• IM²C (International Mathematical Modeling Challenge)

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 40 years improving mathematics education
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• TPSE Math (Transforming Post-Secondary Education in Mathematics)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCOMAP was one of several organizations supporting the Modernizing Undergraduate Math Summit at Harvard University. The Summit brought together educators, researchers, and mathematics leaders to discuss undergraduate math reform, with focus on AI, data science, quantitative reasoning, and mathematical modeling.
• American Mathematical Society (AMS)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of several organizations supporting the Modernizing Undergraduate Math Summit alongside COMAP, working toward undergraduate mathematics reform.
• American Statistical Association (ASA)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupporting organization for the Modernizing Undergraduate Math Summit, collaborating on post-secondary math education initiatives.
• Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupporting organization for the Modernizing Undergraduate Math Summit focused on applied mathematics education.
• Mathematical Association of America (MAA)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupporting organization for the Modernizing Undergraduate Math Summit. COMAP attends MAA MathFest annually. COMAP won MAA Awards at various contests.
• American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupporting organization for the Modernizing Undergraduate Math Summit, representing two-year college mathematics education.
• SIMIODE (Systemic Initiative for Modeling Investigations and Opportunities with Differential Equations)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSIMIODE is integrating into COMAP, bringing its modeling-first approach to differential equations, including SCUDEM contest, SIMIODE Expo, and free teaching resources.
• DIMACS, Rutgers UniversitymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCOMAP collaborated with DIMACS and Colorado State University on the BioMath Connection (BMC) Project, developing 20 modules linking biology and mathematics in high schools.
• Colorado State UniversitymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the BioMath Connection (BMC) Project alongside DIMACS and COMAP, creating innovative classroom materials.
• Regeneron ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCOMAP presents awards at ISEF recognizing outstanding examples of mathematical modeling across disciplines. More than 1,700 students from around the world participate in ISEF.
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)majorGTM or Marketing PartnerVarious contest winners receive NCTM Awards. COMAP contest problems and materials align with NCTM standards and initiatives.
• Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) - Contest AwardsmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerSIAM presents awards at MCM/ICM contests to recognize outstanding solutions demonstrating applied mathematics.
• INFORMS - Contest AwardsmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerINFORMS presents awards at MCM/ICM contests recognizing outstanding operations research and management science applications.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Brilliant: Brilliant is an emerging player: it offers interactive online math and modeling courses for students and adult learners, overlapping with COMAP's content library and self-paced learning use cases. Brilliant targets a similar math-curious demographic through a modern digital platform rather than contests.
• Wolfram Research: Wolfram Research is an emerging player in math modeling education: its Mathematica and Wolfram Alpha platforms are widely used by undergraduate students for the exact kind of computational modeling required in MCM/ICM contests. Wolfram targets the same student demographic through computational tools rather than contest administration, making it complementary but increasingly competitive for modeling curriculum.
• MathWorks: MathWorks (maker of MATLAB) is an emerging player in mathematical modeling education: MATLAB is a standard tool for the computational and simulation work required in MCM/ICM contests and modeling courses. MathWorks overlaps with COMAP through academic program sponsorships, training resources, and tooling that supports the same modeling workflows.

Others

• EdReports: EdReports is an adjacent organization: COMAP's new Director of Instructional Design, Dana Cartier, previously evaluated curriculum at EdReports. EdReports reviews and rates math instructional materials—a function that influences which textbooks (including COMAP's Discrete Mathematics 5th Edition) get adopted by school districts.

Broad incumbents

• Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM): SIAM is a broad incumbent in applied mathematics: it publishes research journals, supports undergraduate math education, and co-sponsors awards at COMAP's MCM/ICM contests. Both organizations operate in the applied math education space, though SIAM's portfolio extends to academic publishing and professional society activities.
• American Mathematical Society (AMS): AMS is a broad incumbent: as a major professional mathematics society, it co-sponsored the Modernizing Undergraduate Math Summit with COMAP and presents awards at MCM. AMS's broader portfolio of research journals and graduate-level programming overlaps with COMAP's higher-education modeling focus.
• Mathematical Association of America (MAA): MAA is a broad incumbent: as the largest professional society for mathematics, it runs its own math competitions (AMC, AIME, USAMO), publishes mathematics journals, and hosts MathFest—activities that overlap directly with COMAP's contest, publication, and conference operations. COMAP even receives MAA Awards and attends MAA MathFest annually.
• IXL Learning: IXL Learning is a broad incumbent in K-12 math: its adaptive online math practice platform serves the same K-12 student and school segments as COMAP's resources. While IXL focuses on standards-aligned practice rather than mathematical modeling contests, both compete for institutional math budgets and educator attention.
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM): NCTM is a broad incumbent in K-12 math education: it sets curriculum standards, publishes teacher resources, and presents contest awards at COMAP's HiMCM. Both organizations serve the same K-12 math teacher audience, with NCTM providing broader standards-based content and COMAP providing modeling-specific curriculum and competitions.

Direct peers

• Art of Problem Solving: Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) is a direct peer: it offers math competition preparation courses, textbooks, and an online learning community that explicitly targets the same high-achieving middle and high school students who participate in COMAP's HiMCM and MidMCM contests. Both organizations serve math-competition-driven student cohorts and monetize via curriculum, courses, and membership.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@COMAPMathModeling
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/comap
• Xx.com/comapmath

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications