February 2, 2013 – Dr. Branislav Kisačanin – “A Tour of Mathematical Functions”

Parabola or catenary?

In this lecture we will retrace the steps of Archimedes, Newton, Euler, and other great mathematicians and learn about important mathematical functions, their properties, history, and applications. We will look at several interesting competition topics that often show up on AMC 10/12, related to exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, hyperbolic, and other functions. We will also see how these functions turn up in solutions of some fundamental problems in math, physics, and engineering. We will have fun using them to draw important curves: cicloids, cardioids, catenaries, circles, ellipses, hyperbolas, parabolas, and will discover which one of them is brachistochrone and which one is tautochrone.

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December 15, 2012 – Dr. Titu Andreescu – “Some of my Favorite Problems”

This next meeting will be our last before the holiday break at UTD and the end of the Fall semester.  Students preparing for the 2013 AMC 10 and 12 will not want to miss this session when Dr. Andreescu share some of his favorite problems and approaches for solving them.

All students should make a serious effort to register and prepare for the AMC 10 or 12 exam.  There is no limitation on how young a student can participate and no restriction on how many years you take the exam until you reach 10th and 12th grades respectively.  The AMC results are requested by many elite colleges to differentiate among the many applications they see with 800 SAT scores.

Here is some additional information about this year’s AMC 12:

The AMC 12 is a 25 question, 75 minute multiple choice examination in secondary school mathematics containing problems which can be understood and solved with pre-calculus concepts. Calculators are not allowed starting in 2008. For the 2012-2013 school year there will be two dates on which the contest may be taken: AMC 12A on Tuesday, February 5, 2013 , and AMC 12B on Wednesday, February 20, 2013 .

 

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March 3, 2012 – Dr. Titu Andreescu – “More Contest Problems”

With the AMC 10 and 12 contests behind us, some students will be preparing for the AIME while many will be working hard to improve their scores next year.  Both groups will not want to miss Dr. Titu Andreescu this weekend as he presents more of his favorite problems and solutions.

Titu Andreescu received his Ph.D. from the West University of Timisoara, Romania. The topic of his dissertation was “Research on Diophantine Analysis and Applications.” Professor Andreescu currently teaches at The University of Texas at Dallas. He is past chairman of the USA Mathematical Olympiad, served as director of the MAA American Mathematics Competitions (1998–2003), coach of the USA International Mathematical Olympiad Team (IMO) for 10 years (1993–2002), director of the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (1995–2002), and leader of the USA IMO Team (1995–2002). In 2002 Titu was elected member of the IMO Advisory Board, the governing body of the world’s most prestigious mathematics competition. Titu co-founded in 2006 and continues as director of the AwesomeMath Summer Program (AMSP). He received the Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished High School Mathematics Teaching from the MAA in 1994 and a “Certificate of Appreciation” from the president of the MAA in 1995 for his outstanding service as coach of the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program in preparing the US team for its perfect performance in Hong Kong at the 1994 IMO. Titu’s contributions to numerous textbooks and problem books are recognized worldwide.

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February 11, 2012 – Krassimir Penev – “Nonstandard Geometric Problems”

Bulgarian Olympiad winner, Krassimir Penev will consider a variety of problem-solving techniques and important facts used for solving nonstandard geometric problems. The examples include but are not limited to the Nine Point Circle, Euler’s line, Ceva’s Theorem and cyclic quadrilaterals.  These mathematical tools could be used for math competitions such as the AMC10,12, AIME, USAMO and Intel talent search.

 

We will plan to meet right after the MATHCOUNTS Chapter competition.

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February 4, 2012 – Dr. Titu Andreescu – AMC Preparation

The American Mathematics Contest (AMC) is an extremely important contest for any students interested in pursuing a STEM education and career.  Many of the elite universities use AMC scores to sort out the many applicants who easily achieve 800 SAT math scores.

Our Metroplex Math Circle students are particularly fortunate to have access to Dr. Titu Andreescu as they prepare themselves to take the test.  Dr. Andreescu was the director of the AMC and coach of the US International Mathematical Olympiad team, whose members are selected from among the very best performers in the AMC, AIME and USAMO sequence of contests.

Students should make sure that their schools are offering the A version of the AMC 10 and 12 tests on February 7th.  For those students who do not have access to the test at their school or who are homeschooled, Dr. Andreescu will be offering the test at UT Dallas on February 22, 2012.  Please leave a comment below if you would like to register to take the test at UT Dallas so we can order sufficient tests.

The “10″ and “12″ refer to the maximum grade in which the test may be taken, however, there is no lower limit on the age of the participant.  Many of our younger students take it with the goal of improving their performance each year and identifying areas to focus their studies.  One extraordinary elementary student, under Dr. Andreescu’s tutelage, even achieved a perfect score on the AMC 10!

 

 

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AMC 10 / 12 B Location Announced

For those of you planning to take the AMC 10 or 12 B at UT Dallas this year, Dr. Andreescu has announced that it will be in the Conference Center in room 1.102.  If you are familiar with the campus you will note that the Conference Center is just across Rutford from the building where Metroplex Math Circle is usually held.  For those of you who need directions, this link will show you the Conference Center and nearby parking:

http://www.utdallas.edu/maps/

This room was chosen due to the large number of students who have already signed up.  If you would like to take the test at UTD please contact Dr. Andreescu to insure that you have a test reserved for you.

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AMC 10 and 12 B Information

As students take the AMC 10 and 12 A today I wanted to post information on Texas universities offering the B version of the test on February 23rd.  Please contact the site coordinators directly.  If you are looking for a site in another state they are listed by the AMC at this site.

Blinn College

902 College Ave.
Brenham, TX 77833

David Fleeger
david.fleeger@blinn.edu
979-830-4436

4:00pm
Main Conference Room of the Student Center

Concordia University

11400 Concordia University Drive
Austin, TX 78726-1887

John Frederic
freddy_dx@yahoo.com
512-313-3000

Offering both the 10/12 A and the 10/12 B testing dates.

University of Texas at Austin

Dept. of Mathematics
Austin, TX 78712-0257

Allison Moore
smmg@math.utexas.edu
512-471-7711

University of Texas at Brownsville

80 Fort Brown
Brownsville, TX 78520

Jerzy Mogilski
jerzy.mogilski@utb.edu
956-882-6636

University of Texas at Dallas

Science & Math Dept.
2601 N. Floyd Rd. FN33
Richardson, TX 75083

Titu Andreescu
tandreescu@gmail.com
972-883-2437

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Dr. Grantcharov Recap

We were very pleased to have our neighbor, Dr. Dimitar Grantcharov deliver the lecture this past Saturday.  He focused his talk around some engaging and deep problems from his last contest at UT Arlington: UTA 2010 Competition Problems.

The students enjoyed solving each problem and then exploring greater depth and generalizations beyond their solutions.  This was an excellent way to better prepare them for the upcoming AMC and AIME contests.

As a reminder, February 5th there will be no Metroplex Math Circle so students can go to Arlington to compete in the Second Annual UT Arlington Math Competition where they will encounter similar challenging problems.

Dr. Grantcharov is also kicking off a new semester of his own math circle in Arlington:

Dear (MC)^2 Friends:

Our first Spring 2011 Math Circle meeting will be held next Tuesday, January 25, at 7:00 pm in PKH 107. Please note that we will meet in a new room this semester. The Mid-Cities Math Circle will run every week and every meeting will last about 60 minutes. The first two meetings will be AMC10-AIME problem-solving sessions.

As usual, the Math Circle is intended for high-school and advanced middle-school students. Teachers are welcome to come to the meetings as well. The web site of the Mid Cities Math Circle is www.midcitiesmathcircle.org

If you plan to come next Tuesday and do not know where to park, a good option would be to use the Garage right next to PKH. Please, keep the parking receipts, so that I can reimburse you later. Maps of the campus can be downloaded at http://www.uta.edu/maps/pdf

Snacks and drinks will (hopefully) be provided. Also, there are still a few copies of the book of Zvezdelina Stankova “A Decade of the Berkeley Math Circle” left. You can get a copy for the (special) prize of $20.

Please forward this message to anyone who might be interested in attending our Math Circle. I am looking forward to see you all on Tuesday.

Best regards,

Dimitar

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January 22 – Dr. Dimitar Grantcharov – Interesting AMC and AIME Problems

Metroplex Math Circle will kick off its spring 2011 semester with a presentation by Dr. Dimitar Grantcharov.    Dr. Grantcharov is an assistant professor at UT Arlington and the director of our neighbor, the Mid Cities Math Circle.  Dr. Grantcharov will use problems from last year’s UT Arlington Math Competition to help prepare our students for the upcoming AMC 10, 12 and AIME.  Here are some examples:

Which of the following numbers is a perfect square?
(A) 98!99! (B) 98! 100! (C) 99! 100! (D) 99!101! (E) 101!101!

A square has sides of length 10, and a circle centered at one of its vertices has radius 10. What is the area of the union of the regions enclosed by the square and the circle?

A game is played with tokens according to the following rule. In each round, the player with the most tokens gives one token to each of the other players and also places one token in the discard pile. The game ends when some player runs out of tokens. Players A, B, and C start with 15, 14, and 13 tokens, respectively. How many rounds will there be in the game?

 

 

 

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January 23 – Dr. Andreescu – A Few Brain Teasers

Metroplex Math Circle will start its 2010 Spring season this Saturday with a lecture by Dr. Andreescu himself.  Dr. Andreescu’s problem sets are always entertaining and challenging.  However, as students prepare for the AMC 10 and 12 it is particularly helpful to learn from a former director of the AMC.

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