be the set of positive integers. A function 
satisfies the equation ![\[\underbrace{f(f(\ldots f}_{f(n)\text{ times}}(n)\ldots))=\frac{n^2}{f(f(n))}\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/2/e/7/2e73ff2f75b103e9d6a4004a42e4ed7f4ee64a67.png)
for all positive integers 
.
.
be an integer. Rowan and Colin play a game on an 
grid of squares, where each square is colored either red or blue. Rowan is allowed to permute the rows of the grid and Colin is allowed to permute the columns. A grid coloring is orderly if: [list] [*]no matter how Rowan permutes the rows of the coloring, Colin can then permute the columns to restore the original grid coloring; and [*]no matter how Colin permutes the columns of the coloring, Rowan can then permute the rows to restore the original grid coloring. [/list] In terms of 
is selected inside acute 
so that 
and 
.
is chosen on ray 
so that 
.
be the midpoint of 
.
is tangent to the circumcircle of triangle 
.
that satisfy![\[
f(x^2-y)+2yf(x)=f(f(x))+f(y)
\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/f/b/b/fbb693770cd90d8a144026608074122e54da5802.png)
for all 
.
and 
be positive integers. The cells of an 
grid are colored amber and bronze such that there are at least 
amber cells and at least 
bronze cells. Prove that it is possible to choose 
chosen cells lie in the same row or column.
and 
are erected outside an acute triangle 
Suppose that ![\[\angle BC_1C+\angle CA_1A+\angle AB_1B=180^{\circ}.\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/3/3/7/3378f0c4409d14bc0afddf2616992c13f624be3b.png)
Prove that lines 
and 
are concurrent.
-
of the unit squares silver and the remaining squares gold. Kei then folds the grid in half vertically, forming pairs of overlapping unit squares. Let 
and 
?
of identical dominoes is a maximal grid-aligned configuration on the board if 
dominoes where each domino covers exactly two neighboring squares and the dominoes don't overlap: 
be the number of distinct maximal grid-aligned configurations obtainable from 
Y by EZmath2006, OliverA, blacksheep2003, I-_-I, kevinmathz, Toinfinity, 277546, greenturtle3141, goseahawks, djmathman, GeronimoStilton, Zorger74, OronSH, montana_mathlete, usernameyourself, hdrcure, khina, fidgetboss_4000, LauraZed, Lcz, Bowser498, 329020, smartguy888, fatant, ghu2024, Bobcats, OlympusHero, ETS1331, KoolKat6, fluffyclouds, leequack, JacobGuo, Greenleaf5002, Imayormaynotknowcalculus, cmsgr8er, reaganchoi, Mudkipswims42, divijleisha, mathleticguyyy, PROA200, Inconsistent, CoolCarsOnTheRun, vvluo, mlgjeffdoge21, rayfish, Vndom, csunllc, Mathemagician10, middletonkids, freeman66, Snowyowl2005, Bltbob, nikenissan, mathdragon2000, MarkBcc168, parmenides51, cybercooltech_aops, jj2014, rf20008, scrabbler94, sshi, mathisawesome2169, AngelaLZ, amar_04, Ultroid999OCPN, vsamc, richy, yrnsmurf, Smileyklaws, samuel, kidcrumb10, Atpar, ishankhare, arisettyjr, cubical, SpinTop, coolmath_2018, niyu, super.shamik, Binomial-theorem, NamePending, MeHateMemes, Calculusmaster789, smartatmath, ChromeRaptor777, electrovector, smartninja2000, steven2015, smartkmd1, GCA, tapir1729, ksdicecream, claserken, sargamsujit, anc3, FIREDRAGONMATH16, SnowPanda, Aspiring_Mathletes, mathNart, DSL13, hamburgerwhizz, happyhippos, rocketsri, AdolphHitler, Spaced_Out, reniebeanbean, wamofan, poplintos, justJen, aaja3427, Adventure10, ilovepizza2020, nicarmt, JimY, Mrdavid445, HamstPan38825, ProblemSolver2048, amazingxin777, Pi-rate, SciBoy2000, gladIasked, v4913, Math_olympics, centslordm, superagh, Possible, third_one_is_jerk, Kaisun, LOGYC, etvat, Supernova283, Shauryajain123, a_friendwr_a, naren_pr, RubixMaster21, ihatemath123, eggybonk, hwdaniel, ostriches88, spark1016, RedFlame2112, winterrain01, Jc426, sotpidot, VDR, MERC12345, cowcow, RedFireTruck, rg_ryse, cryptographer, VKU427, kavya.rajesh, 606234, Gumball, Eat314, Bradygho, suvamkonar, AOPqghj, RaymondZhu, Rg230403, varunkute, magicarrow, Testking, TryhardMathlete, pragna0527, NumberX, son7, icematrix2, vqbc, NoSignOfTheta, dudavid, samrocksnature, bsu1, Apple321, Instance, Siddharth03, megarnie, Bildungsroman, andyloo666, DankBasher619, jhu08, 618173, abvk1718, Jndd, Nutty_Nitty, Lol_man000, asimov, eagles2018, ASweatyAsianBoie, pi271828, kante314, air2rz, Pandafan, Robomania_534, HWenslawski, Lamboreghini, mathflowers, exp-ipi-1, Pranav1056, flamewavelight, mahaler, Sotowa, Sehraskar, math31415926535, brainfertilzer, fuzimiao2013, shadow09, MathNinja234, pikapika007, bronzetruck2016, AlphaBetaGammaOmega, Math4Life2020, llr, Crabh, loafofbread, ImSh95, bingo2019, Cygnet, sehgalsh, rohan.sp, ScavengerofPlanetC929, NTfish, Lucasfunnyface, EpicBird08, andrewandamy, duskstream, EthanHL, peelybonehead, jmiao, awesomehuman, mathmax12, Danielzh, Amir Hossein, AlienGirl05, ultimate_life_form, lpieleanu, feliciaxu, jf123456, HighWater, pieMax2713, ujulee, tigeryong, Mathicorn_1, Dhira, Sedro, Yrock, aops-g5-gethsemanea2, Shadow_Sniper, NeuralNetwork, Spiritpalm, aidan0626, Andrew2019, DU4532, rty, Blue_banana4, K124659, missionsqhc, amaops1123, Pengu14, MathFanChar
The purpose of this post is to lay out a few suggestions about what kind of posts work well for the C&P forum. Except in a few cases these are mostly meant to be "suggestions based on historical trends" rather than firm hard rules; we may eventually replace this with an actual list of firm rules but that requires admin approval 
That said, if you post something in the "discouraged" category, you should not be totally surprised if it gets locked; they are discouraged exactly because past experience shows they tend to go badly.
1. Program discussion: Allowed
If you have questions about specific camps or programs (e.g. which classes are good at X camp?), these questions fit well here. Many camps/programs have specific sub-forums too but we understand a lot of them are not active.
2. Results discussion: Allowed
You can make threads about e.g. how you did on contests (including AMC), though on AMC day when there is a lot of discussion. Moderators and administrators may do a lot of thread-merging / forum-wrangling to keep things in one place.
3. Reposting solutions or questions to past AMC/AIME/USAMO problems: Allowed
This forum contains a post for nearly every problem from AMC8, AMC10, AMC12, AIME, USAJMO, USAMO (and these links give you an index of all these posts). It is always permitted to post a full solution to any problem in its own thread (linked above), regardless of how old the problem is, and even if this solution is similar to one that has already been posted. We encourage this type of posting because it is helpful for the user to explain their solution in full to an audience, and for future users who want to see multiple approaches to a problem or even just the frequency distribution of common approaches. We do ask for some explanation; if you just post "the answer is (B); ez" then you are not adding anything useful.
You are also encouraged to post questions about a specific problem in the specific thread for that problem, or about previous user's solutions. It's almost always better to use the existing thread than to start a new one, to keep all the discussion in one place easily searchable for future visitors.
4. Advice posts: Allowed, but read below first
You can use this forum to ask for advice about how to prepare for math competitions in general. But you should be aware that this question has been asked many many times. Before making a post, you are encouraged to look at the following:
Actually, the absolute best way to get a helpful response is to take a few examples of problems that you tried to solve but couldn't, and explain what you tried on them / why you couldn't solve them. Here is a great example of a specific question.
5. Publicity: use P2P forum instead
See https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2489297_peertopeer_programs_forum.
Some exceptions have been allowed in the past, but these require approval from administrators. (I am not totally sure what the criteria is. I am not an administrator.)
6. Mock contests: use Mock Contests forum instead
Mock contests should be posted in the dedicated forum instead:
https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c594864_aops_mock_contests
7. AMC procedural questions: suggest to contact the AMC HQ instead
If you have a question like "how do I submit a change of venue form for the AIME" or "why is my name not on the qualifiers list even though I have a 300 index", you would be better off calling or emailing the AMC program to ask, they are the ones who can help you
8. Discussion of random math problems: suggest to use MSM/HSM/HSO instead
If you are discussing a specific math problem that isn't from the AMC/AIME/USAMO, it's better to post these in Middle School Math, High School Math, High School Olympiads instead.
9. Politics: suggest to use Round Table instead
There are important conversations to be had about things like gender diversity in math contests, etc., for sure. However, from experience we think that C&P is historically not a good place to have these conversations, as they go off the rails very quickly. We encourage you to use the Round Table instead, where it is much more clear that all posts need to be serious.
10. MAA complaints: discouraged
We don't want to pretend that the MAA is perfect or that we agree with everything they do. However, we chose to discourage this sort of behavior because in practice most of the comments we see are not useful and some are frankly offensive.
11. Memes and joke posts: discouraged
It's fine to make jokes or lighthearted posts every so often. But it should be done with discretion. Ideally, jokes should be done within a longer post that has other content. For example, in my response to one user's question about olympiad combinatorics, I used a silly picture of Sogiita Gunha, but it was done within a context of a much longer post where it was meant to actually make a point.
On the other hand, there are many threads which consist largely of posts whose only content is an attached meme with the word "MAA" in it. When done in excess like this, the jokes reflect poorly on the community, so we explicitly discourage them.
12. Questions that no one can answer: discouraged
Examples of this: "will MIT ask for AOIME scores?", "what will the AIME 2021 cutoffs be (asked in 2020)", etc. Basically, if you ask a question on this forum, it's better if the question is something that a user can plausibly answer
13. Blind speculation: discouraged
Along these lines, if you do see a question that you don't have an answer to, we discourage "blindly guessing" as it leads to spreading of baseless rumors. For example, if you see some user posting "why are there fewer qualifiers than usual this year?", you should not reply "the MAA must have been worried about online cheating so they took fewer people!!". Was sich überhaupt sagen lässt, lässt sich klar sagen; und wovon man nicht reden kann, darüber muss man schweigen.
14. Discussion of cheating: strongly discouraged
If you have evidence or reasonable suspicion of cheating, please report this to your Competition Manager or to the AMC HQ; these forums cannot help you.
Otherwise, please avoid public discussion of cheating. That is: no discussion of methods of cheating, no speculation about how cheating affects cutoffs, and so on --- it is not helpful to anyone, and it creates a sour atmosphere. A longer explanation is given in Seriously, please stop discussing how to cheat.
15. Cutoff jokes: never allowed
Whenever the cutoffs for any major contest are released, it is very obvious when they are official. In the past, this has been achieved by the numbers being posted on the official AMC website (here) or through a post from the AMCDirector account.
You must never post fake cutoffs, even as a joke. You should also refrain from posting cutoffs that you've heard of via email, etc., because it is better to wait for the obvious official announcement. A longer explanation is given in A Treatise on Cutoff Trolling.
16. Meanness: never allowed
Being mean is worse than being immature and unproductive. If another user does something which you think is inappropriate, use the Report button to bring the post to moderator attention, or if you really must reply, do so in a way that is tactful and constructive rather than inflammatory.
Finally, we remind you all to sit back and enjoy the problems.
(EDIT 2024-09-13: AoPS has asked to me to add the following item.)
Advertising paid program or service: never allowed
Per the AoPS Terms of Service (rule 5h), general advertisements are not allowed.
While we do allow advertisements of official contests (at the MAA and MATHCOUNTS level) and those run by college students with at least one successful year, any and all advertisements of a paid service or program is not allowed and will be deleted.
That said, if you post something in the "discouraged" category, you should not be totally surprised if it gets locked; they are discouraged exactly because past experience shows they tend to go badly.
1. Program discussion: Allowed
If you have questions about specific camps or programs (e.g. which classes are good at X camp?), these questions fit well here. Many camps/programs have specific sub-forums too but we understand a lot of them are not active.
2. Results discussion: Allowed
You can make threads about e.g. how you did on contests (including AMC), though on AMC day when there is a lot of discussion. Moderators and administrators may do a lot of thread-merging / forum-wrangling to keep things in one place.
3. Reposting solutions or questions to past AMC/AIME/USAMO problems: Allowed
This forum contains a post for nearly every problem from AMC8, AMC10, AMC12, AIME, USAJMO, USAMO (and these links give you an index of all these posts). It is always permitted to post a full solution to any problem in its own thread (linked above), regardless of how old the problem is, and even if this solution is similar to one that has already been posted. We encourage this type of posting because it is helpful for the user to explain their solution in full to an audience, and for future users who want to see multiple approaches to a problem or even just the frequency distribution of common approaches. We do ask for some explanation; if you just post "the answer is (B); ez" then you are not adding anything useful.
You are also encouraged to post questions about a specific problem in the specific thread for that problem, or about previous user's solutions. It's almost always better to use the existing thread than to start a new one, to keep all the discussion in one place easily searchable for future visitors.
4. Advice posts: Allowed, but read below first
You can use this forum to ask for advice about how to prepare for math competitions in general. But you should be aware that this question has been asked many many times. Before making a post, you are encouraged to look at the following:
- Stop looking for the right training: A generic post about advice that keeps getting stickied
- There is an enormous list of links on the Wiki of books / problems / etc for all levels.
Actually, the absolute best way to get a helpful response is to take a few examples of problems that you tried to solve but couldn't, and explain what you tried on them / why you couldn't solve them. Here is a great example of a specific question.
5. Publicity: use P2P forum instead
See https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2489297_peertopeer_programs_forum.
Some exceptions have been allowed in the past, but these require approval from administrators. (I am not totally sure what the criteria is. I am not an administrator.)
6. Mock contests: use Mock Contests forum instead
Mock contests should be posted in the dedicated forum instead:
https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c594864_aops_mock_contests
7. AMC procedural questions: suggest to contact the AMC HQ instead
If you have a question like "how do I submit a change of venue form for the AIME" or "why is my name not on the qualifiers list even though I have a 300 index", you would be better off calling or emailing the AMC program to ask, they are the ones who can help you
8. Discussion of random math problems: suggest to use MSM/HSM/HSO instead
If you are discussing a specific math problem that isn't from the AMC/AIME/USAMO, it's better to post these in Middle School Math, High School Math, High School Olympiads instead.
9. Politics: suggest to use Round Table instead
There are important conversations to be had about things like gender diversity in math contests, etc., for sure. However, from experience we think that C&P is historically not a good place to have these conversations, as they go off the rails very quickly. We encourage you to use the Round Table instead, where it is much more clear that all posts need to be serious.
10. MAA complaints: discouraged
We don't want to pretend that the MAA is perfect or that we agree with everything they do. However, we chose to discourage this sort of behavior because in practice most of the comments we see are not useful and some are frankly offensive.
- If you just want to blow off steam, do it on your blog instead.
- When you have criticism, it should be reasoned, well-thought and constructive. What we mean by this is, for example, when the AOIME was announced, there was great outrage about potential cheating. Well, do you really think that this is something the organizers didn't think about too? Simply posting that "people will cheat and steal my USAMOO qualification, the MAA are idiots!" is not helpful as it is not bringing any new information to the table.
- Even if you do have reasoned, well-thought, constructive criticism, we think it is actually better to email it the MAA instead, rather than post it here. Experience shows that even polite, well-meaning suggestions posted in C&P are often derailed by less mature users who insist on complaining about everything.
11. Memes and joke posts: discouraged
It's fine to make jokes or lighthearted posts every so often. But it should be done with discretion. Ideally, jokes should be done within a longer post that has other content. For example, in my response to one user's question about olympiad combinatorics, I used a silly picture of Sogiita Gunha, but it was done within a context of a much longer post where it was meant to actually make a point.
On the other hand, there are many threads which consist largely of posts whose only content is an attached meme with the word "MAA" in it. When done in excess like this, the jokes reflect poorly on the community, so we explicitly discourage them.
12. Questions that no one can answer: discouraged
Examples of this: "will MIT ask for AOIME scores?", "what will the AIME 2021 cutoffs be (asked in 2020)", etc. Basically, if you ask a question on this forum, it's better if the question is something that a user can plausibly answer
13. Blind speculation: discouraged
Along these lines, if you do see a question that you don't have an answer to, we discourage "blindly guessing" as it leads to spreading of baseless rumors. For example, if you see some user posting "why are there fewer qualifiers than usual this year?", you should not reply "the MAA must have been worried about online cheating so they took fewer people!!". Was sich überhaupt sagen lässt, lässt sich klar sagen; und wovon man nicht reden kann, darüber muss man schweigen.
14. Discussion of cheating: strongly discouraged
If you have evidence or reasonable suspicion of cheating, please report this to your Competition Manager or to the AMC HQ; these forums cannot help you.
Otherwise, please avoid public discussion of cheating. That is: no discussion of methods of cheating, no speculation about how cheating affects cutoffs, and so on --- it is not helpful to anyone, and it creates a sour atmosphere. A longer explanation is given in Seriously, please stop discussing how to cheat.
15. Cutoff jokes: never allowed
Whenever the cutoffs for any major contest are released, it is very obvious when they are official. In the past, this has been achieved by the numbers being posted on the official AMC website (here) or through a post from the AMCDirector account.
You must never post fake cutoffs, even as a joke. You should also refrain from posting cutoffs that you've heard of via email, etc., because it is better to wait for the obvious official announcement. A longer explanation is given in A Treatise on Cutoff Trolling.
16. Meanness: never allowed
Being mean is worse than being immature and unproductive. If another user does something which you think is inappropriate, use the Report button to bring the post to moderator attention, or if you really must reply, do so in a way that is tactful and constructive rather than inflammatory.
Finally, we remind you all to sit back and enjoy the problems.
(EDIT 2024-09-13: AoPS has asked to me to add the following item.)
Advertising paid program or service: never allowed
Per the AoPS Terms of Service (rule 5h), general advertisements are not allowed.
While we do allow advertisements of official contests (at the MAA and MATHCOUNTS level) and those run by college students with at least one successful year, any and all advertisements of a paid service or program is not allowed and will be deleted.
This post has been edited 11 times. Last edited by v_Enhance, Sep 13, 2024, 11:44 PM
