Competition Math

Course Overview:

This elective is designed to help students set personal goals and prepare for local and national math competitions. Students will learn the problem-solving techniques useful in competitions like MATHCOUNTS and AMC 8/10/12, though the course itself will survey a much broader set of competitions. In addition, students will learn mathematical subjects that are covered in the major competitions but are outside of the standard high school curriculum. Topics include the basics of number theory, probability, combinatorics, and complex numbers. Beginners and seasoned competitors alike will have the support to make progress on their competition goals. There are no prerequisites for this elective course. The class meets for 90 minutes, once a week. Live sessions come in two forms: practice days and content days. On practice days students take all or part of a past math competition during the first hour of class and then discuss solutions, strategies, tricks and related ideas in the last half hour of class. Students prepare for these days via discussion board posts where they present problems to each other. On content days a new mathematical topic is presented and discussed. Students prepare for these sessions by completing assigned readings and a set of basic comprehension questions which are housed on Canvas. Students demonstrate mastery through challenging homework problem sets.