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.
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.
Dr. Zuming Feng, coach of the US IMO team and author of multiple books on Olympiad problem solving, shared valuable techniques for solving the Diophantine Equations which occur frequently in problem solving contests.
The students worked through a series of increasingly difficult problems and Dr. Feng guided them through ways to leverage their number sense and algebra to limit the number of possible solutions saving them invaluable time in a contest situation.
If you missed Dr. Feng this weekend we are happy to say that he will be returning to Metroplex Math Circle on March 7th. The video below shows Dr. Feng discussing solutions to the 2006 International Mathematics Olympiad.
Our friends at SDMC provide a link to a fascinating study at the Center for Mathematics Education. The PowerPoint presentation linked below provides some interesting demographic research on accomplished problem solvers.
The research sets out to answer the following question:
What aspects of the in-school and out of school experiences of IMO caliber students can be identified as promising for the encouragement of a broader population of students into sustained and advanced study of mathematics in secondary school and beyond?
Of particular interest is the strong role played by the family, the school, the challenge of contests and mentors (slide 15). Metroplex Math Circle attempts to bring all 4 factors together to help our students to achieve their full potential.
In addition to being the subject of books like Count Down, the Director of Metroplex Math Circle, Dr. Titu Andreescu is also the author of multiple books on problem solving. These books draw on his many years of experience as the director of AMC, coach of the US International Math Olympiad team and author of many contest problems.
To help the Metroplex Math Circle community we have created an Amazon List with some of Dr. Andreescu’s currently available books. In addition to Dr. Andreescu’s books for experienced problem solvers we have also included some books and resources on the list for students just starting into problem solving.
Not only does Metroplex Math Circle benefit from Dr. Andreescu himself, but many of his co-authors are also friends of MMC and frequent lecturers.
Following are the author descriptions from the book 104 Number Theory Problems: From the Training of the USA IMO Team:
About the Authors
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.
Dorin Andrica received his Ph.D. in 1992 from “Babes-Bolyai” University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania; his thesis treated critical points and applications to the geometry of differentiable submanifolds. Professor Andrica has been chairman of the Department of Geometry at “Babes-Bolyai” since 1995. He has written and contributed to numerous mathematics textbooks, problem books, articles and scientific papers at various levels. He is an invited lecturer at university conferences around the world: Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Turkey, and the USA. Dorin is a member of the Romanian Committee for the Mathematics Olympiad and is a member on the editorial boards of several international journals. Also, he is well known for his conjecture about consecutive primes called “Andrica’s Conjecture.” He has been a regular faculty member at the Canada–USA Mathcamps between 2001–2005 and at the AwesomeMath Summer Program (AMSP) since 2006.
Zuming Feng received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University with emphasis on Algebraic Number Theory and Elliptic Curves. He teaches at Phillips Exeter Academy. Zuming also served as a coach of the USA IMO team (1997-2006), was the deputy leader of the USA IMO Team (2000-2002), and an assistant director of the USA Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (1999-2002). He has been a member of the USA Mathematical Olympiad Committee since 1999, and has been the leader of the USA IMO team and the academic director of the USA Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program since 2003. Zuming is also co-founder and academic director of the AwesomeMath Summer Program (AMSP) since 2006. He received the Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished High School Mathematics Teaching from the MAA in 1996 and 2002.
The San Diego Math Circle (SDMC), like our own Metroplex Math Circle, has been a leader in identifying talented young problem solvers. On their beautifully redesigned web site, they have an interesting discussion of the impact their math circle has had on the number of USAMO qualifiers from their community.
The following chart shows the strong correlation between the rise in USAMO success and the founding of SDMC in 2002. Click on the chart to read the rest of the page on Olympiads and Olympians.
Several postings have concerned the International Math Olympiad which is a bold aspiration for many Math Circle participants. But there are several steps on the road to representing the US on the IMO team and each one of those steps has its own challenges and rewards.
The USAMO is a six question, two day, 9 hour essay/proof examination. All problems can be solved with pre-calculus methods. Approximately 500 of the top scoring AMC participants (based on a weighted average) are invited to take the USAMO.
Just sitting for the USAMO requires a distinguished performance on the AIME, AMC 12 or AMC 10 tests.
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 are invited to take the AIME. All students who took the AMC 10 and had a score of 120 or were in the top 1% also qualify for the AIME.
The AMC 10 and AMC 12 test are administered to hundreds of thousands of high school students. Many of the universities who routinely reject applicants with 800 SAT Math scores are requiring submission of AMC test scores.
A special purpose of the AMC 12 is to help identify those few students with truly exceptional mathematics talent. Students who are among the very best deserve some indication of how they stand relative to other students in the country and around the world .
To prepare for these challenging and potentially life altering tests, AMC offers the AMC 8 eligible to students through the 8th grade.
The AMC 8 is a 25 question, 40 minute multiple choice examination in junior high school (middle school) mathematics designed to promote the development and enhancement of problem solving skills. The examination provides an opportunity to apply the concepts taught at the junior high level to problems which not only range from easy to difficult but also cover a wide range of applications. Many problems are designed to challenge students and to offer problem solving experiences beyond those provided in most junior high school mathematics classes.
Math Circles have a great deal to offer beyond improving performance on this series of tests. However, Metroplex Math Circle is particularly fortunate to have as its Director, Dr. Titu Andreescu, the former Director of AMC and Coach of the US IMO team. He has generously shared his experience with MMC students to help them prepare for these critical steps on the road to the IMO.
Dr. Titu Andreescu, Director of the Metroplex Math Circle, has co-authored yet another book designed for students and coaches preparing for high-school-level mathematical Olympiads, national or international.
Posted by Metroplex Math Circle 
Posted by Metroplex Math Circle 
Posted by Metroplex Math Circle 
