Mathematical Olympiad Challenges

by Titu Andreescu

Mathematical Olympiad Challenges is a rich collection of problems put together by two experienced and well-known professors and coaches of the U.S. International Mathematical Olympiad Team. Hundreds of beautiful, challenging, and instructive problems from algebra, geometry, trigonometry, combinatorics, and number theory were selected from numerous mathematical competitions and journals. An important feature of the work is the comprehensive background material provided with each grouping of problems. The problems are clustered by topic into self-contained sections with solutions provided separately. All sections start with an essay discussing basic facts and one or two representative examples. A list of carefully chosen problems follows and the reader is invited to take them on. Additionally, historical insights and asides are presented to stimulate further inquiry. The emphasis throughout is on encouraging readers to move away from routine exercises and memorized algorithms toward creative solutions to open-ended problems. Aimed at motivated high school and beginning college students and instructors, this work can be used as a text for advanced problem- solving courses, for self-study, or as a resource for teachers and students training for mathematical competitions and for teacher professional development, seminars, and workshops.

Genres: Mathematics, Science

277 pages, Paperback

First published April 26, 2000

About the author

Titu Andreescu is an associate professor of mathematics at the University of Texas at Dallas. He is also firmly involved in mathematics contests and Olympiads, being the Director of AMC (as appointed by the Mathematical Association of America), Director of MOP, Head Coach of the USA IMO Team and Chairman of the USAMO. He has also authored a large number of books on the topic of problem solving and Olympiad-style mathematics.

Reviews

[Maurizio Codogno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questa raccolta di problemi matematici presentati alle Olimpiadi della Matematica è davvero tosta. Delle tre sezioni (Geometria e trigonometria, Algebra e analisi, Teoria dei numeri e combinatorica) di cui il libro è composto, ho saltato a pié pari la prima, ma anche nelle altre due mi sono trovato davvero a malpartito. Diciamo che questi non sono "problemi" matematici ma vere e proprie sfide; però se vogliamo vedere le cose in maniera più ottimista aggiungo che i problemi sono spiegati molto bene, e che le introduzioni alle varie sezioni danno anche delle idee generali per capire come si possano affrontare gli esercizi. Insomma, non è un libro da consigliare alla leggera, ma sono certo che i veri pazz... ehm, appassionati della matematica potranno trovare ottimi spunti.

[Jędrzej Biedrzycki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of olympiad exercises with understandable explanations.

[Hawa Diallo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful.

[Ayush Patnaik]

Wonderful Problems

[Givi]

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