A unique collection of competition problems from over twenty major national and international mathematical competitions for high school students. Written for trainers and participants of contests of all levels up to the highest level, this will appeal to high school teachers conducting a mathematics club who need a range of simple to complex problems and to those instructors wishing to pose a "problem of the week", thus bringing a creative atmosphere into the classrooms. Equally, this is a must-have for individuals interested in solving difficult and challenging problems. Each chapter starts with typical examples illustrating the central concepts and is followed by a number of carefully selected problems and their solutions. Most of the solutions are complete, but some merely point to the road leading to the final solution. In addition to being a valuable resource of mathematical problems and solution strategies, this is the most complete training book on the market.

This is a practical anthology of some of the best elementary problems in different branches of mathematics. Arranged by subject, the problems highlight the most common problem-solving techniques encountered in undergraduate mathematics. This book teaches the important principles and broad strategies for coping with the experience of solving problems. It has been found very helpful for students preparing for the Putnam exam.

This book is a rare resource consisting of problems and solutions similar to those seen in mathematics contests from around the world. It is an excellent training resource for high school students who plan to participate in mathematics contests, and a wonderful collection of problems that can be used by teachers who wish to offer their advanced students some challenging nontraditional problems to work on to build their problem solving skills. It is also an excellent source of problems for the mathematical hobbyist who enjoys solving problems on various levels.Problems are organized by topic and level of difficulty and are cross-referenced by type, making finding many problems of a similar genre easy. An appendix with the mathematical formulas needed to solve the problems has been included for the reader's convenience. We expect that this book will expand the mathematical knowledge and help sharpen the skills of students in high schools, universities and beyond.

This book of problems is designed to challenge students learning probability. Each chapter is divided into three parts: Problems, Hints, and Solutions. All Problems sections include expository material, making the book self-contained. Definitions and statements of important results are interlaced with relevant problems. The only prerequisite is basic algebra and calculus.

Games are seen only for recreation. However, this book shows that games can be used to strengthen problem-solving skills and beyond. This book presents strategy games and discusses for each one solutions towards a winning position in the game. In most cases, these strategies are analogous to problem-solving strategies in mathematics. Readers are also exposed to a wide variety of games from several different cultures, which will broaden the perspective of the readers.

Pell's equation is part of a central area of algebraic number theory that treats quadratic forms and the structure of the rings of integers in algebraic number fields. It is an ideal topic to lead college students, as well as some talented and motivated high school students, to a better appreciation of the power of mathematical technique. Even at the specific level of quadratic diophantine equations, there are unsolved problems, and the higher degree analogues of Pell's equation, particularly beyond the third, do not appear to have been well studied. In this focused exercise book, the topic is motivated and developed through sections of exercises which will allow the readers to recreate known theory and provide a focus for their algebraic practice. There are several explorations that encourage the reader to embark on their own research. A high school background in mathematics is all that is needed to get into this book, and teachers and others interested in mathematics who do not have (or have forgotten) a background in advanced mathematics may find that it is a suitable vehicle for keeping up an independent interest in the subject.

There was once a bumper sticker that read, "Remember the good old days when air was clean and sex was dirty?" Indeed, some of us are old enough to remember not only those good old days, but even the days when Math was/un(!), not the ponderous THEOREM, PROOF, THEOREM, PROOF, . . . , but the whimsical, "I've got a good prob lem. " Why did the mood change? What misguided educational philoso phy transformed graduate mathematics from a passionate activity to a form of passive scholarship? In less sentimental terms, why have the graduate schools dropped the Problem Seminar? We therefore offer "A Problem Seminar" to those students who haven't enjoyed the fun and games of problem solving. CONTENTS Preface v Format I Problems 3 Estimation Theory 11 Generating Functions 17 Limits of Integrals 19 Expectations 21 Prime Factors 23 Category Arguments 25 Convexity 27 Hints 29 Solutions 41 FORMAT This book has three parts: first, the list of problems, briefly punctuated by some descriptive pages; second, a list of hints, which are merely meant as words to the (very) wise; and third, the (almost) complete solutions. Thus, the problems can be viewed on any of three levels: as somewhat difficult challenges (without the hints), as more routine problems (with the hints), or as a textbook on "how to solve it" (when the solutions are read). Of course it is our hope that the book can be enjoyed on any of these three levels.