March 2, 2013 – Dr. Titu Andreescu – More Interesting Problems

With the AMC tests behind us and the AIME to come, don’t miss this opportunity to hear Dr. Andreescu talk about some of his favorite problems!

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2013 Preston Trails Chapter MATHCOUNTS Results

Congratulations to all of the teams and individuals from our local MATHCOUNTS chapter who are advancing to state.  You will see in the list below many regular Metroplex Math Circle participants:

Team Rank 1:  Rice Middle School, Head Coach:  Laura Liu

• Michael Ma
• Jeffrey Huang
• Brian Du
• Daran Zhao

Team Rank 2:  Schimelpfenig Middle School, Head Coach:  Chris Mutke

• Michael Shen
• Jett Wang
• Kenny Huang
• Anthony Jiang

Team Rank 3:  Renner Middle School, Head Coach:  Michelle Edwards

• Max Bu
• Alex Cheng
• Rich Zhou
• Andrew Gu

Team Rank 4:  Fermat School for Math and Science, Head Coach:  Titu Andreescu

• Vinjai Vale
• Adrian Andreescu
• Milena Djordjevic-Kisacanin
• Jonathan Aberle

Team Rank 5:  Hendrick Middle School, Head Coach:  Kathleen DeLaVergne

• Jason Yu
• Annie Zhao
• Eeshan Kumar
• Joy Li

Team Rank 6:  Murphy Middle School, Head Coaches:  Clarice Perry and Kim Dau

• Jeremiah Budiman
• Rishad Islam
• Andrew Kwon
• Harshal Madhavapeddi

Individual Qualifiers

• Eric Zhang, Rice Middle School
• Vincent Huang, Schimelpfenig Middle School
• Brandon Chen, Rice Middle School
• Abhilash Potluri, Schimelpfenig Middle School
• Yash Chandak, Coppell Middle School

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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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AMC 8 Preparation Handouts

On October 20th Dr. Titu Andreescu spoke to the Metroplex Math Circle at UT Dallas and shared a number of interesting problems.  The video below will give people some sense of what a math circle session can be.  We are still experimenting with our video and streaming technology so we appreciate your patience and are grateful for your tips to improve the quality of these videos which will be posted to our YouTube channel.

Please note that every Metroplex Math Circle speaker is encouraged to choose the topic and format that best suits their style and passions.  This means that every session is somewhat different and you are encouraged to read the description of each session posted here or on our FaceBook and Google+ pages when you make your decision to attend.

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November 3, 2012 – Dr. Titu Andreescu – More Interesting Problems

We are very fortunate this week to have Dr. Titu Andreescu return to present some more challenging problems and strategies for solving them.

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October 20, 2012 – Dr. Titu Andreescu – AMC 8 Preparation

The AMC 8 is an important contest to introduce younger students (grades 8 and below) to problem solving and discrete mathematics topics.  Even very young students should begin working with these problems and participate in the AMC 8 in as many years as possible to be well prepared for the AMC 10 and 12 whose results are often requested by elite universities as part of the admissions process.

Metroplex Math Circle attendees are particularly fortunate to have Dr. Andreescu lead us through a discussion of some of his favorite AMC 8 problems.  Dr. Andreescu is the former director of the AMC and the former coach of the US International Mathematical Olympiad team whose members are ultimately chosen from the very best participants in the AMC sponsored contests.

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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 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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November 5, 2011 – Titu Andreescu – “AMC 8 Preparation”

If you are a student who has not yet passed 8th grade, please make every effort to attend next week’s math circle.  The AMC 8 contest is the first in a series of competitions eventually used to select the team for the International Mathematical Olympiad.  While few students will ever represent the US on this elite team, the scores from the AMC tests become an important component of any transcript when applying to a STEM program in an elite college.

With today’s international and competitive application environment, elite universities routinely see many 800 SAT math scores.  The more rigorous AMC test provides these schools a more meaningful measure of students who will succeed in their math or science programs.

Our students have a great advantage learning directly from Dr. Titu Andreescu.  Dr. Andreescu was the director of the AMC (you will see his name on the certificate above) and the coach of the US IMO team.  Do not miss this opportunity to improve your understanding and performance on the AMC 8 which will prepare you for the more advanced competitions to come.

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October 15, 2011 – Dr. Titu Andreescu – “Prime and Composite Numbers”

Next Saturday Dr. Andreescu will return to share some of his favorite problems related to primes and composite numbers.  Not only are these subjects major components of mathematical contests, they are also used widely in applied math topics like cryptography.  The presentation will contain interesting problems involving primes and numbers that can be written as product of primes.

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