October 3 – More Math with Dr. Andreescu

On October 3rd Dr. Andreescu will continue his talk from September 19th with more problems and strategies that will prove very useful to students preparing for upcoming AMC competitions.

September 19 – Dr. Andreescu – “Back to Math”

Metroplex Math Circle will begin its 2009-2010 season with a lecture by its director, Dr. Titu Andreescu.  For those who are new to MMC this is a good opportunity to recall the world class qualifications that Dr. Andreescu brings to our math circle community.

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. Related articles on this site.

AwesomeMath (Texas) Begins!

AwesomeMath Summer Camp has emerged as one of the premier problem solving experiences, drawing top students from around the country and around the world.  This year AwesomeMath has expanded to two campuses, UT Dallas and UC Santa Cruz.

The Texas session will begin tomorrow and several Metroplex Math Circle students will be attending this year.  While separate programs, both AwesomeMath and MMC were founded and are directed by Dr. Titu Andreescu.

Congratulations and best of luck to all of the local and global students selected to attend AwesomeMath 2009.

2009 Purple Comet! Math Meet Results

The 2009 Purple Comet!  Math Meet has completed and the full results are posted here.

Many Metroplex Math Circle attendees participated including the Archimedes’ Successors team which earned an Honorable Mention in the mixed middle school division:

• First Place(tie): Philippine Team A (Mathematics Trainers Guild Philippines), VASS (Longfellow Middle School), All-Asian Social Turndowns (AAST) with 15 out of 15 correct.
• Fourth Place(tie): Indigo 2 (PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL), Indigo 4 (PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL), Calculators (BASIC Homeschools), Indigo 3 (PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL) with 14 out of 15 correct.
• Honorable mentions go to ICAE Gauss was a Boss (ICAE), ICAE Bananas (ICAE), Eagles Rumble (Heritage Christian School), Brookings Home School (Brookings Home School), MyTJPrep (Multiple schools/MyTJPrep), Segimwony (St Mary School), Archimedes’ Successors (Eudaimonia Homeschool Academy), Central Maryland Homeschoolers (Central Maryland Homeschoolers)

Designed by Dr. Titu Andreescu and Dr. Jonathan Kane this contest is very challenging.  The Purple Comet organizers provide coaches with the following counsel:

Coaches: Please encourage your teams that scores below 50% are not uncommon. The problems offered in these meets are of the same calibre as those offered in the top national mathematics exams, and can be quite challenging. We are very pleased to see teams performing as well as they have, and we know they will rise to the challenge and perform even better in the meets to come.

2009 USAMO Highest Ranking Individuals

AMC just announced the highest ranking individuals from the 2009 USAMO:

John Berman	John T. Hoggard High School	Wilmington	NC
Sergei Bernstein	Belmont High School	Belmont	MA
Wenyu Cao	Phillips Academy	Andover	MA
Robin Cheng	Pinetree Secondary School	Coquitlam	BC
Vlad Firoiu	Westford Academy	Westford	MA
Eric Larson	South Eugene High School	Eugene	OR
Delong Meng	Baton Rouge Magnet High School	Baton Rouge	LA
Qinxuan Pan	Thomas S. Wootton High School	Rockville	MD
Panupong Pasupat	Deerfield Academy	Deerfield	MA
Toan Phan	Taft School	Watertown	CT
David Rush	Phillips Exeter Academy	Exeter	NH
David Yang	Homeschool	Walnut	CA

All of these students deserve congratulations.   Its particularly nice to see the achievements of 7th grader,  David Yang.  David was a student of Dr. Andreescu’s AwesomeMath camp last year and was also in the final rounds of the 2009 MATHCOUNTS national competion.

USAMO Qualifiers

AMC recently announced the students invited to sit for the USA Mathematical Olympiad.  This is a tremendous accomplishment following exemplary performance on the AMC 10 or 12 and a high score on the AIME.  The qualifiers from Texas are:

Every student representing Texas at the USAMO deserves to be very proud.  However, Metroplex Math Circle is particularly proud that one of our most regular attendees is by far the youngest student on the national list.

Michael Ma, as a fourth grader received a perfect score on the AMC 10 and followed it up with a performance on the AIME that is beyond all but the best high school students.  MMC cannot claim the credit for this terrific success (that belongs to Michael and his family) but Michael does exemplify the hard work and talent that Dr. Andreescu seeks to identify and encourage.

Please join us in congratulating Michael on his continued success.

April 18 – Last Math Circle

Please join us on April 18 for the last Metroplex Math Circle of the Spring 2009 semester.

Dr. Andreescu himself will present some of his favorite problems and then we will have our traditional end of the year celebration.

Most importantly, we want as many students and parents to attend so that we can discuss the future of the Metroplex Math Circle.

March 14th – Titu Andreescu – AIME Preparation

Dr. Titu Andreescu, former director of AMC and coach of the US IMO team will be giving a special lecture for those preparing for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME).   This will be a very challenging session befitting the caliber of the AIME examination.  However, students who did not qualify this year but are working on AMC 10 and 12 preparation should benefit from the unique insights and strategies that Dr. Andreescu will provide.

Here is some information about the AIME:

The AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination) is an intermediate examination between the AMC 10 or AMC 12 and the USAMO. All students who took the AMC 12 and achieved a score of 100 or more out of a possible 150 or were in the top 5% are invited to take the AIME. All students who took the AMC 10 and had a score of 120 or more out of a possible 150, or were in the top 1% also qualify for the AIME. For the 2008-2009 school year the date for the AIME I is Tuesday, March 17, 2009 and the AIME II is Wednesday, April 1, 2009.

The AIME is a 15 question, 3 hour examination in which each answer is an integer number from 0 to 999. The questions on the AIME are much more difficult and students are very unlikely to obtain the correct answer by guessing. As with the AMC 10 and AMC 12 (and the USAMO), all problems on the AIME can be solved by pre-calculus methods. The use of calculators is not allowed.

March 7, 2009 – Alan Davis – “Combinatorics Continued”

Alan Davis will continue his previous talk on Combinatorics with more challenging problems and concepts.  Those who missed his first talk are encouraged to attend promptly for a quick review at 2:00.

Mr. Davis will focus on the essence of the inclusion-exclusion principle with some interesting problems.

For the curious students who are eager to sharpen their problem-solving skills in Combinatorics, Mr. Davis recommends these two collections that Titu Andreescu and Zuming Feng collaborated on:

• A Path to Combinatorics for Undergraduates: Counting Strategies
• 102 Combinatorial Problems

Math and Chess Spring Program 2009

During the spring school vacation students in north Texas will have a unique opportunity to combine their interests in math and chess.  March 16-20, Dr. Titu Andreescu will join efforts with International Chess Master Marco Zivanic to create a unique and intense program at the QD Academy in Plano, TX (corner of Legacy and Coit).

This program has two parts:  math and chess.  Students can choose one of the two or both.

The mathematics segment is designed for students who like to engage in meaningful problem solving activities.   It is intended for students who have a particular interest in math competitions as well as for those who wish to explore higher level mathematics well beyond the regular school curriculum.

The mathematics component will be structured as follows:  intermediate (3rd to 5th grade) and advanced (6th to 9th grade).

The advanced level will be offered in the morning and the intermediate level in the afternoon.

The chess program focuses on developing competitive chess skills.  It will strengthen your understanding of the opening, middle and end game.   Classes will be organized according to students’ ability, experience and instructor’s assessment.

All students are invited to our AwesomeChess tournament on Thursday, March 19th.  It will be a USCF rated three-round tourney starting at 6 PM.  The entrance fee for non-participating camp students is $20.

The cost of the Math and Chess Spring Program is $320 for one session (chess or math) or $575 for both.  This includes snacks for AM and PM sessions as well as lunch for students attending both sessions, medals, certificates of participation and tournament entrance fee.

For more information and sign up forms please come to the next Metroplex Math Circle or contact Dr. Andreescu directly at titu@awesomemath.org.