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Contests & Programs AMC and other contests, summer programs, etc.
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k a March Highlights and 2025 AoPS Online Class Information
jlacosta   0
Mar 2, 2025
March is the month for State MATHCOUNTS competitions! Kudos to everyone who participated in their local chapter competitions and best of luck to all going to State! Join us on March 11th for a Math Jam devoted to our favorite Chapter competition problems! Are you interested in training for MATHCOUNTS? Be sure to check out our AMC 8/MATHCOUNTS Basics and Advanced courses.

Are you ready to level up with Olympiad training? Registration is open with early bird pricing available for our WOOT programs: MathWOOT (Levels 1 and 2), CodeWOOT, PhysicsWOOT, and ChemWOOT. What is WOOT? WOOT stands for Worldwide Online Olympiad Training and is a 7-month high school math Olympiad preparation and testing program that brings together many of the best students from around the world to learn Olympiad problem solving skills. Classes begin in September!

Do you have plans this summer? There are so many options to fit your schedule and goals whether attending a summer camp or taking online classes, it can be a great break from the routine of the school year. Check out our summer courses at AoPS Online, or if you want a math or language arts class that doesn’t have homework, but is an enriching summer experience, our AoPS Virtual Campus summer camps may be just the ticket! We are expanding our locations for our AoPS Academies across the country with 15 locations so far and new campuses opening in Saratoga CA, Johns Creek GA, and the Upper West Side NY. Check out this page for summer camp information.

Be sure to mark your calendars for the following events:
[list][*]March 5th (Wednesday), 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET, HCSSiM Math Jam 2025. Amber Verser, Assistant Director of the Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics, will host an information session about HCSSiM, a summer program for high school students.
[*]March 6th (Thursday), 4:00pm PT/7:00pm ET, Free Webinar on Math Competitions from elementary through high school. Join us for an enlightening session that demystifies the world of math competitions and helps you make informed decisions about your contest journey.
[*]March 11th (Tuesday), 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET, 2025 MATHCOUNTS Chapter Discussion MATH JAM. AoPS instructors will discuss some of their favorite problems from the MATHCOUNTS Chapter Competition. All are welcome!
[*]March 13th (Thursday), 4:00pm PT/7:00pm ET, Free Webinar about Summer Camps at the Virtual Campus. Transform your summer into an unforgettable learning adventure! From elementary through high school, we offer dynamic summer camps featuring topics in mathematics, language arts, and competition preparation - all designed to fit your schedule and ignite your passion for learning.[/list]
Our full course list for upcoming classes is below:
All classes run 7:30pm-8:45pm ET/4:30pm - 5:45pm PT unless otherwise noted.

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0 replies
jlacosta
Mar 2, 2025
0 replies
k i A Letter to MSM
Arr0w   23
N Sep 19, 2022 by scannose
Greetings.

I have seen many posts talking about commonly asked questions, such as finding the value of $0^0$, $\frac{1}{0}$,$\frac{0}{0}$, $\frac{\infty}{\infty}$, why $0.999...=1$ or even expressions of those terms combined as if that would make them defined. I have made this post to answer these questions once and for all, and I politely ask everyone to link this post to threads that are talking about this issue.
[list]
[*]Firstly, the case of $0^0$. It is usually regarded that $0^0=1$, not because this works numerically but because it is convenient to define it this way. You will see the convenience of defining other undefined things later on in this post.

[*]What about $\frac{\infty}{\infty}$? The issue here is that $\infty$ isn't even rigorously defined in this expression. What exactly do we mean by $\infty$? Unless the example in question is put in context in a formal manner, then we say that $\frac{\infty}{\infty}$ is meaningless.

[*]What about $\frac{1}{0}$? Suppose that $x=\frac{1}{0}$. Then we would have $x\cdot 0=0=1$, absurd. A more rigorous treatment of the idea is that $\lim_{x\to0}\frac{1}{x}$ does not exist in the first place, although you will see why in a calculus course. So the point is that $\frac{1}{0}$ is undefined.

[*]What about if $0.99999...=1$? An article from brilliant has a good explanation. Alternatively, you can just use a geometric series. Notice that
\begin{align*}
\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{9}{10^n}&=9\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{10^n}=9\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\biggr(\frac{1}{10}\biggr)^n=9\biggr(\frac{\frac{1}{10}}{1-\frac{1}{10}}\biggr)=9\biggr(\frac{\frac{1}{10}}{\frac{9}{10}}\biggr)=9\biggr(\frac{1}{9}\biggr)=\boxed{1}
\end{align*}
[*]What about $\frac{0}{0}$? Usually this is considered to be an indeterminate form, but I would also wager that this is also undefined.
[/list]
Hopefully all of these issues and their corollaries are finally put to rest. Cheers.

2nd EDIT (6/14/22): Since I originally posted this, it has since blown up so I will try to add additional information per the request of users in the thread below.

INDETERMINATE VS UNDEFINED

What makes something indeterminate? As you can see above, there are many things that are indeterminate. While definitions might vary slightly, it is the consensus that the following definition holds: A mathematical expression is be said to be indeterminate if it is not definitively or precisely determined. So how does this make, say, something like $0/0$ indeterminate? In analysis (the theory behind calculus and beyond), limits involving an algebraic combination of functions in an independent variable may often be evaluated by replacing these functions by their limits. However, if the expression obtained after this substitution does not provide sufficient information to determine the original limit, then the expression is called an indeterminate form. For example, we could say that $0/0$ is an indeterminate form.

But we need to more specific, this is still ambiguous. An indeterminate form is a mathematical expression involving at most two of $0$, $1$ or $\infty$, obtained by applying the algebraic limit theorem (a theorem in analysis, look this up for details) in the process of attempting to determine a limit, which fails to restrict that limit to one specific value or infinity, and thus does not determine the limit being calculated. This is why it is called indeterminate. Some examples of indeterminate forms are
\[0/0, \infty/\infty, \infty-\infty, \infty \times 0\]etc etc. So what makes something undefined? In the broader scope, something being undefined refers to an expression which is not assigned an interpretation or a value. A function is said to be undefined for points outside its domain. For example, the function $f:\mathbb{R}^{+}\cup\{0\}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ given by the mapping $x\mapsto \sqrt{x}$ is undefined for $x<0$. On the other hand, $1/0$ is undefined because dividing by $0$ is not defined in arithmetic by definition. In other words, something is undefined when it is not defined in some mathematical context.

WHEN THE WATERS GET MUDDIED

So with this notion of indeterminate and undefined, things get convoluted. First of all, just because something is indeterminate does not mean it is not undefined. For example $0/0$ is considered both indeterminate and undefined (but in the context of a limit then it is considered in indeterminate form). Additionally, this notion of something being undefined also means that we can define it in some way. To rephrase, this means that technically, we can make something that is undefined to something that is defined as long as we define it. I'll show you what I mean.

One example of making something undefined into something defined is the extended real number line, which we define as
\[\overline{\mathbb{R}}=\mathbb{R}\cup \{-\infty,+\infty\}.\]So instead of treating infinity as an idea, we define infinity (positively and negatively, mind you) as actual numbers in the reals. The advantage of doing this is for two reasons. The first is because we can turn this thing into a totally ordered set. Specifically, we can let $-\infty\le a\le \infty$ for each $a\in\overline{\mathbb{R}}$ which means that via this order topology each subset has an infimum and supremum and $\overline{\mathbb{R}}$ is therefore compact. While this is nice from an analytic standpoint, extending the reals in this way can allow for interesting arithmetic! In $\overline{\mathbb{R}}$ it is perfectly OK to say that,
\begin{align*}
a + \infty = \infty + a & = \infty, & a & \neq -\infty \\
a - \infty = -\infty + a & = -\infty, & a & \neq \infty \\
a \cdot (\pm\infty) = \pm\infty \cdot a & = \pm\infty, & a & \in (0, +\infty] \\
a \cdot (\pm\infty) = \pm\infty \cdot a & = \mp\infty, & a & \in [-\infty, 0) \\
\frac{a}{\pm\infty} & = 0, & a & \in \mathbb{R} \\
\frac{\pm\infty}{a} & = \pm\infty, & a & \in (0, +\infty) \\
\frac{\pm\infty}{a} & = \mp\infty, & a & \in (-\infty, 0).
\end{align*}So addition, multiplication, and division are all defined nicely. However, notice that we have some indeterminate forms here which are also undefined,
\[\infty-\infty,\frac{\pm\infty}{\pm\infty},\frac{\pm\infty}{0},0\cdot \pm\infty.\]So while we define certain things, we also left others undefined/indeterminate in the process! However, in the context of measure theory it is common to define $\infty \times 0=0$ as greenturtle3141 noted below. I encourage to reread what he wrote, it's great stuff! As you may notice, though, dividing by $0$ is undefined still! Is there a place where it isn't? Kind of. To do this, we can extend the complex numbers! More formally, we can define this extension as
\[\mathbb{C}^*=\mathbb{C}\cup\{\tilde{\infty}\}\]which we call the Riemann Sphere (it actually forms a sphere, pretty cool right?). As a note, $\tilde{\infty}$ means complex infinity, since we are in the complex plane now. Here's the catch: division by $0$ is allowed here! In fact, we have
\[\frac{z}{0}=\tilde{\infty},\frac{z}{\tilde{\infty}}=0.\]where $\tilde{\infty}/\tilde{\infty}$ and $0/0$ are left undefined. We also have
\begin{align*}
z+\tilde{\infty}=\tilde{\infty}, \forall z\ne -\infty\\
z\times \tilde{\infty}=\tilde{\infty}, \forall z\ne 0
\end{align*}Furthermore, we actually have some nice properties with multiplication that we didn't have before. In $\mathbb{C}^*$ it holds that
\[\tilde{\infty}\times \tilde{\infty}=\tilde{\infty}\]but $\tilde{\infty}-\tilde{\infty}$ and $0\times \tilde{\infty}$ are left as undefined (unless there is an explicit need to change that somehow). One could define the projectively extended reals as we did with $\mathbb{C}^*$, by defining them as
\[{\widehat {\mathbb {R} }}=\mathbb {R} \cup \{\infty \}.\]They behave in a similar way to the Riemann Sphere, with division by $0$ also being allowed with the same indeterminate forms (in addition to some other ones).
23 replies
Arr0w
Feb 11, 2022
scannose
Sep 19, 2022
k i Marathon Threads
LauraZed   0
Jul 2, 2019
Due to excessive spam and inappropriate posts, we have locked the Prealgebra and Beginning Algebra threads.

We will either unlock these threads once we've cleaned them up or start new ones, but for now, do not start new marathon threads for these subjects. Any new marathon threads started while this announcement is up will be immediately deleted.
0 replies
LauraZed
Jul 2, 2019
0 replies
k i Basic Forum Rules and Info (Read before posting)
jellymoop   368
N May 16, 2018 by harry1234
f (Reminder: Do not post Alcumus or class homework questions on this forum. Instructions below.) f
Welcome to the Middle School Math Forum! Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the rules.

Overview:
[list]
[*] When you're posting a new topic with a math problem, give the topic a detailed title that includes the subject of the problem (not just "easy problem" or "nice problem")
[*] Stay on topic and be courteous.
[*] Hide solutions!
[*] If you see an inappropriate post in this forum, simply report the post and a moderator will deal with it. Don't make your own post telling people they're not following the rules - that usually just makes the issue worse.
[*] When you post a question that you need help solving, post what you've attempted so far and not just the question. We are here to learn from each other, not to do your homework. :P
[*] Avoid making posts just to thank someone - you can use the upvote function instead
[*] Don't make a new reply just to repeat yourself or comment on the quality of others' posts; instead, post when you have a new insight or question. You can also edit your post if it's the most recent and you want to add more information.
[*] Avoid bumping old posts.
[*] Use GameBot to post alcumus questions.
[*] If you need general MATHCOUNTS/math competition advice, check out the threads below.
[*] Don't post other users' real names.
[*] Advertisements are not allowed. You can advertise your forum on your profile with a link, on your blog, and on user-created forums that permit forum advertisements.
[/list]

Here are links to more detailed versions of the rules. These are from the older forums, so you can overlook "Classroom math/Competition math only" instructions.
Posting Guidelines
Update on Basic Forum Rules
What belongs on this forum?
How do I write a thorough solution?
How do I get a problem on the contest page?
How do I study for mathcounts?
Mathcounts FAQ and resources
Mathcounts and how to learn

As always, if you have any questions, you can PM me or any of the other Middle School Moderators. Once again, if you see spam, it would help a lot if you filed a report instead of responding :)

Marathons!
Relays might be a better way to describe it, but these threads definitely go the distance! One person starts off by posting a problem, and the next person comes up with a solution and a new problem for another user to solve. Here's some of the frequently active marathons running in this forum:
[list][*]Algebra
[*]Prealgebra
[*]Proofs
[*]Factoring
[*]Geometry
[*]Counting & Probability
[*]Number Theory[/list]
Some of these haven't received attention in a while, but these are the main ones for their respective subjects. Rather than starting a new marathon, please give the existing ones a shot first.

You can also view marathons via the Marathon tag.

Think this list is incomplete or needs changes? Let the mods know and we'll take a look.
368 replies
jellymoop
May 8, 2015
harry1234
May 16, 2018
9 Can I make MOP
Bigtree   25
N 3 minutes ago by happyhippos
My dream is to be on IMO team ik thats not going to happen b/c the kids that make it are like 6th mop quals :play_ball:. I somehow got a $208.5$ index this yr (118.5 on amc10+ 9 on AIME) i’m in 7th rn btw first year comp math also. I will grind so hard until like 30 hrs/week. I’m ok at proofs. made mc nats
25 replies
Bigtree
Mar 9, 2025
happyhippos
3 minutes ago
[Registration Open] Gunn Math Competition is BACK!!!
the_math_prodigy   1
N an hour ago by the_math_prodigy
Source: compete.gunnmathcircle.org
IMAGE

Gunn Math Competition will take place at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California on THIS Sunday, March 30th. Gather a team of up to four and compete for over $7,500 in prizes! The deadline to sign up is March 27th. We welcome participants of all skill levels, with separate Beginner and Advanced (AIME) divisions for all students, from advanced 4th graders to 12th graders.

For more information, check our website, [url][/url]compete.gunnmathcircle.org, where registration is free and now open. The deadline to sign up is this Friday, March 28th. If you are unable to make a team, register as an individual and we will be able to create teams for you.

Special Guest Speaker: Po-Shen LohIMAGE
We are honored to welcome Po-Shen Loh, a world-renowned mathematician, Carnegie Mellon professor, and former coach of the USA International Math Olympiad team. He will deliver a several 30-minute talks to both students and parents, offering deep insights into mathematical thinking and problem-solving in the age of AI!

For any questions, reach out at ghsmathcircle@gmail.com or ask in our Discord server, which you can join through the website.

Find information on our AoPS page too! https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/Gunn_Math_Competition_(GMC)
Thank you to our sponsors for making this possible!
IMAGE

Check out our flyer! IMAGE
1 reply
1 viewing
the_math_prodigy
an hour ago
the_math_prodigy
an hour ago
Practice AMC 10A
freddyfazbear   0
an hour ago
Hey everyone!

I’m back with another practice test. Sorry this one took a while to pump out since I have been busy lately.

Post your score/distribution, favorite problems, and thoughts on the difficulty of the test down below. Hope you enjoy!


Practice AMC 10A

1. Find the sum of the infinite geometric series 1/2 + 7/36 + 49/648 + …
A - 18/11, B - 9/22, C - 9/11, D - 18/7, E - 9/14

2. What is the first digit after the decimal point in the square root of 420?
A - 1, B - 2, C - 3, D - 4, E - 5

3. Caden’s calculator is broken and two of the digits are swapped for some reason. When he entered in 9 + 10, he got 21. What is the sum of the two digits that got swapped?
A - 2, B - 3, C - 4, D - 5, E - 6

4. Two circles with radiuses 47 and 96 intersect at two points A and B. Let P be the point 82% of the way from A to B. A line is drawn through P that intersects both circles twice. Let the four intersection points, from left to right be W, X, Y, and Z. Find (PW/PX)*(PY/PZ).
A - 50/5863, B - 47/96, C - 1, D - 96/47, E - 5863/50

5. Two dice are rolled, and the two numbers shown are a and b. How many possible values of ab are there?
A - 17, B - 18, C - 19, D - 20, E - 21

6. What is the largest positive integer that cannot be expressed in the form 6a + 9b + 4c + 20d, where a, b, c, and d are positive integers?
A - 29, B - 38, C - 43, D - 76, E - 82

7. What is the absolute difference of the probabilities of getting at least 6/10 on a 10-question true or false test and at least 3/5 on a 5-question true or false test?
A - 0, B - 1/504, C - 1/252, D - 1/126, E - 1/63

8. How many arrangements of the letters in the word “ginger” are there such that the two vowels have an even number of letters (remember 0 is even) between them (including the original “ginger”)?
A - 72, B - 108, C - 144, D - 216, E - 432

9. After opening his final exam, Jason does not know how to solve a single question. So he decides to pull out his phone and search up the answers. Doing this, Jason has a success rate of anywhere from 94-100% for any given question he uses his phone on. However, if the teacher sees his phone at any point during the test, then Jason gets a 0.5 multiplier on his final test score, as well as he must finish the rest of the test questions without his phone. (Assume Jason uses his phone on every question he does until he finishes the test or gets caught.) Every question is a 5-choice multiple choice question. Jason has a 90% chance of not being caught with his phone. What is the expected value of Jason’s test score, rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent?
A - 89.9%, B - 90.0%, C - 90.1%, D - 90.2%, E - 90.3%

10. A criminal is caught by a police officer. Due to a lack of cooperation, the officer calls in a second officer so they can start the arrest smoothly. Officer 1 takes 26:18 to arrest a criminal, and officer 2 takes 13:09 to arrest a criminal. With these two police officers working together, how long should the arrest take?
A - 4:23, B - 5:26, C - 8:46, D - 17:32, E - 19:44

11. Suppose that on the coordinate grid, the x-axis represents economic freedom, and the y-axis represents social freedom, where -1 <= x, y <= 1 and a higher number for either coordinate represents more freedom along that particular axis. Accordingly, the points (0, 0), (1, 1), (-1, 1), (-1, -1), and (1, -1) represent democracy, anarchy, socialism, communism, and fascism, respectively. A country is classified as whichever point it is closest to. Suppose a theoretical new country is selected by picking a random point within the square bounded by anarchy, socialism, communism, and fascism as its vertices. What is the probability that it is fascist?
A - 1 - (1/4)pi, B - 1/5, C - (1/16)pi, D - 1/4, E - 1/8

12. Statistics show that people in Memphis who eat at KFC n days a week have a (1/10)(n+2) chance of liking kool-aid, and the number of people who eat at KFC n days a week is directly proportional to 8 - n (Note that n can only be an integer from 0 to 7, inclusive). A random person in Memphis is selected. Find the probability that they like kool-aid.
A - 13/30, B - 17/30, C - 19/30, D - 23/30, E - 29/30

13. A southern plantation has a length of 50 meters and a width of 60 meters. On the plantation, there is 1 kg of cotton per square meter waiting to be picked. The master of the plantation initially calls over 25 cotton pickers, each picking cotton at a rate of 5 kg per hour starting at 9 AM. However, he wants all of the cotton to be picked by 9 PM, and realizes that he needs to speed up the process. At 12 PM, the master then encourages his pickers to work faster by whipping them, in which they then all speed up to 6 kg per hour. At 1 PM, the master calls in 15 more pickers which pick at 5 kg per hour. Unfortunately, at 3 PM, the clouds drift away and the hot sun starts beating down, which slows every picker down by 2 kg per hour. At 4 PM, the clouds return, and all pickers return to picking at 5 kg per hour. At 5 PM, the master calls in 30 more pickers, which again pick at 5 kg per hour. At 6 PM, he calls in 30 more pickers. At 7 PM, he whips all the pickers again, speeding them up to 6 kg per hour. But at 8 PM, n pickers suddenly crash out and stop working due to fatigue, and the rest all slow back down to 5 kg per hour because they are tired. The master does not have any more pickers, so if too many of them drop out, he is screwed and will have to go overtime. Find the maximum value of n such that all of the cotton can still be picked on time, done no later than 9 PM.
A - 51, B - 52, C - 53, D - 54, E - 55

14. Find the number of positive integers n less than 69 such that the average of all the squares from 1^2 to n^2, inclusive, is an integer.
A - 11, B - 12, C - 23, D - 24, E - 48

15. Find the number of ordered pairs (a, b) of integers such that (a - b)^2 = 625 - 2ab.
A - 6, B - 10, C - 12, D - 16, E - 20

16. What is the 420th digit after the decimal point in the decimal expansion of 1/13?
A - 4, B - 5, C - 6, D - 7, E - 8

17. Two congruent towers stand near each other. Both take the shape of a right rectangular prism. A plane that cuts both towers into two pieces passes through the vertical axes of symmetry of both towers and does not cross the floor or roof of either tower. Let the point that the plane crosses the axis of symmetry of the first tower be A, and the point that the plane crosses the axis of symmetry of the second tower be B. A is 81% of the way from the floor to the roof of the first tower, and B is 69% of the way from the floor to the roof of the second tower. What percent of the total mass of both towers combined is above the plane?
A - 19%, B - 25%, C - 50%, D - 75%, E - 81%

18. What is the greatest number of positive integer factors an integer from 1 to 100 can have?
A - 10, B - 12, C - 14, D - 15, E - 16

19. On an analog clock, the minute hand makes one full revolution every hour, and the hour hand makes one full revolution every 12 hours. Both hands move at a constant rate. During which of the following time periods does the minute hand pass the hour hand?
A - 7:35 - 7:36, B - 7:36 - 7:37, C - 7:37 - 7:38, D - 7:38 - 7:39, E - 7:39 - 7:40

20. Find the smallest positive integer that is a leg in three different Pythagorean triples.
A - 12, B - 14, C - 15, D - 20, E - 21

21. How many axes of symmetry does the graph of (x^2)(y^2) = 69 have?
A - 2, B - 3, C - 4, D - 5, E - 6

22. Real numbers a, b, and c are chosen uniformly and at random from 0 to 3. Find the probability that a + b + c is less than 2.
A - 4/81, B - 8/81, C - 4/27, D - 8/27, E - 2/3

23. Let f(n) be the sum of the positive integer divisors of n. Find the sum of the digits of the smallest odd positive integer n such that f(n) is greater than 2n.
A - 15, B - 18, C - 21, D - 24, E - 27

24. Find the last three digits of 24^10.
A - 376, B - 576, C - 626, D - 876, E - 926

25. A basketball has a diameter of 9 inches, and the hoop has a diameter of 18 inches. Peter decides to pick up the basketball and make a throw. Given that Peter has a 1/4 chance of accidentally hitting the backboard and missing the shot, but if he doesn’t, he is guaranteed that the frontmost point of the basketball will be within 18 inches of the center of the hoop at the moment when a great circle of the basketball crosses the plane containing the rim. No part of the ball will extend behind the backboard at any point during the throw, and the rim is attached directly to the backboard. What is the probability that Peter makes a green FN?
A - 3/128, B - 3/64, C - 3/32, D - 3/16, E - 3/8
0 replies
freddyfazbear
an hour ago
0 replies
Prove a polynomial has a nonreal root
KevinYang2.71   42
N an hour ago by Math4Life2020
Source: USAMO 2025/2
Let $n$ and $k$ be positive integers with $k<n$. Let $P(x)$ be a polynomial of degree $n$ with real coefficients, nonzero constant term, and no repeated roots. Suppose that for any real numbers $a_0,\,a_1,\,\ldots,\,a_k$ such that the polynomial $a_kx^k+\cdots+a_1x+a_0$ divides $P(x)$, the product $a_0a_1\cdots a_k$ is zero. Prove that $P(x)$ has a nonreal root.
42 replies
KevinYang2.71
Mar 20, 2025
Math4Life2020
an hour ago
state mathcounts colorado
aoh11   85
N Today at 1:15 AM by sadas123
I have state mathcounts tomorrow. What should I do to get prepared btw, and what are some tips for doing sprint and cdr?
85 replies
aoh11
Mar 15, 2025
sadas123
Today at 1:15 AM
Interview Question
PatTheKing806   11
N Today at 1:09 AM by huajun78
Can anybody solve this?

IMAGE
11 replies
PatTheKing806
Yesterday at 7:59 PM
huajun78
Today at 1:09 AM
AMC 8 Help
krish6_9   42
N Today at 12:40 AM by pieMax2713
Hey guys
im in new jersey a third grader who got 12 on amc 8. I want to make mop in high school and mathcounts nationals in 6th grade is that realistic how should I get better
42 replies
krish6_9
Mar 17, 2025
pieMax2713
Today at 12:40 AM
2013 Stats Sprint #28
Rice_Farmer   17
N Yesterday at 3:27 PM by Aaronjudgeisgoat
Is there a better way than just partitioning casework bash this?
17 replies
Rice_Farmer
Mar 17, 2025
Aaronjudgeisgoat
Yesterday at 3:27 PM
Basic Maths
JetFire008   12
N Yesterday at 12:51 PM by ChaitraliKA
Find $x$: $\sqrt{9}x=18$
12 replies
JetFire008
Mar 21, 2025
ChaitraliKA
Yesterday at 12:51 PM
Mathcounts STRATEGIES
Existing_Human1   29
N Yesterday at 12:40 PM by drhong
Hello commuinty!

I am wondering what your strategies are for mathcounts. Please note I do not mean tips. These can be for all rounds, but please specify. BTW, this is for state, but it can apply to any competition.

Ex:
Team - sit in a specific order
Target - do the easiest first
Sprint - go as fast as possible

I just made up the examples, and you will probably have better strategies, so if you want to help out, please do
29 replies
Existing_Human1
Mar 20, 2025
drhong
Yesterday at 12:40 PM
quadratics
luciazhu1105   24
N Yesterday at 11:33 AM by cheltstudent
I really need help on quadratics and I don't know why I also kinda need a bit of help on graphing functions and finding the domain and range of them.
24 replies
luciazhu1105
Feb 14, 2025
cheltstudent
Yesterday at 11:33 AM
Amc10 prep question
Shadow6885   21
N Yesterday at 4:14 AM by Shadow6885
My question is how much of the geo and IA textbooks is relevant to AMC 10?
21 replies
Shadow6885
Mar 17, 2025
Shadow6885
Yesterday at 4:14 AM
Water Watermelon
hwenterprise   8
N Yesterday at 4:10 AM by huajun78
A giant watermelon weighed 50 pounds and was 99 percent water. After sitting in the hot sun, some of the water evaporated so that the watermelon was only 98 percent water. What is the new weight of the watermelon?
8 replies
hwenterprise
Sep 18, 2005
huajun78
Yesterday at 4:10 AM
Good Mocks for STate
Existing_Human1   4
N Yesterday at 3:51 AM by huajun78
Hello Community!

I am wondering what are the best mocks for state, with solutions
4 replies
Existing_Human1
Mar 21, 2025
huajun78
Yesterday at 3:51 AM
USAJMO problem 3: Inequality
BOGTRO   102
N Mar 21, 2025 by Marcus_Zhang
Let $a,b,c$ be positive real numbers. Prove that $\frac{a^3+3b^3}{5a+b}+\frac{b^3+3c^3}{5b+c}+\frac{c^3+3a^3}{5c+a} \geq \frac{2}{3}(a^2+b^2+c^2)$.
102 replies
BOGTRO
Apr 24, 2012
Marcus_Zhang
Mar 21, 2025
USAJMO problem 3: Inequality
G H J
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BOGTRO
5818 posts
#1 • 12 Y
Y by Amir Hossein, HWenslawski, megarnie, chessgocube, Lilathebee, son7, ImSh95, Lamboreghini, Adventure10, Mango247, ItsBesi, and 1 other user
Let $a,b,c$ be positive real numbers. Prove that $\frac{a^3+3b^3}{5a+b}+\frac{b^3+3c^3}{5b+c}+\frac{c^3+3a^3}{5c+a} \geq \frac{2}{3}(a^2+b^2+c^2)$.
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NewAlbionAcademy
910 posts
#3 • 9 Y
Y by HWenslawski, chessgocube, Lilathebee, megarnie, son7, ImSh95, Lamboreghini, Adventure10, and 1 other user
0. >.<

My friend said you needed to prove

$\frac{a^3+3b^3}{5a+b} \ge \frac{1}{2}a^2+\frac{1}{6}b^2$ or something like that.
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Minamoto
233 posts
#4 • 11 Y
Y by chessgocube, Lilathebee, Flying-Man, HWenslawski, son7, ImSh95, fidgetboss_4000, Lamboreghini, aidan0626, Adventure10, and 1 other user
I showed that when $a = b = c$ we have LHS = RHS

Then I set $a+b+c = x$ and showed that as $c$ approaches $x$ and $a$ and $b$ approach $0$, we have that $\frac{16}{5} \geq \frac{2}{3}$ Only, I'm not sure whether I wrote $c$ approaches $x$ or infinity... :wallbash:

Then I got clueless, so I guessed "It is easy to show that for any $a,b,c$ between these two extremes, LHS is still greater than or equal to RHS, QED.
AkshajK wrote:
How many points do you think i'll get? :D
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exmath89
2572 posts
#5 • 7 Y
Y by chessgocube, Lilathebee, HWenslawski, son7, ImSh95, Adventure10, and 1 other user
I got the inequality to $\sum_{cyc} \frac{a^3+3b^3}{5a+b}\ge\frac{6abc}{a+b+c}$ using AM-GM, but just bsed the rest to show the desired. -_-
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BOGTRO
5818 posts
#6 • 7 Y
Y by Lilathebee, chessgocube, HWenslawski, son7, ImSh95, Adventure10, and 1 other user
Neither of those looks like it'll get a positive score :3

So I wrote
"By rearrangement inequality on {a,b,c} and {a^2,b^2,c^2}, we have $a^3+b^3+c^3 \geq ab^2+bc^2+ca^2$. Thus, $12a^3+12b^3+12c^2 \geq 10a^3+10b^3+10c^2+2(ab^2+bc^2+ca^2)$

Thus, $(a^3+3b^3)+(b^3+3c^3)+(c^3+3a^3) \geq \frac{2}{3}a^2(5a+b)+\frac{2}{3}b^2(5b+c)+\frac{2}{3}c^2(5c+a)$"

And stopped. Obviously this doesn't do a whole lot (well, nothing). Any possibility of sneaking a point?
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applepi2000
2226 posts
#7 • 8 Y
Y by anser, Lilathebee, chessgocube, HWenslawski, son7, ImSh95, Adventure10, and 1 other user
Probably the intended solution:
Click to reveal hidden text
My solution:
Click to reveal hidden text
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colinhy
751 posts
#8 • 12 Y
Y by RudraRockstar, centslordm, Lilathebee, chessgocube, HWenslawski, fidgetboss_4000, son7, ImSh95, Adventure10, Mango247, Sedro, and 1 other user
Well, what I did is that I didn't really know what to do after an hour of bashing and stuff, so I used Cauchy, used a faulty muirhead (flipped the inequality sign :P), and proved that. Hopefully they won't notice... or read this post.
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v_Enhance
6870 posts
#9 • 16 Y
Y by Wizard_32, Kanep, HamstPan38825, myh2910, megarnie, centslordm, Lilathebee, chessgocube, HWenslawski, son7, Jc426, ImSh95, NS2k7, Rounak_iitr, Adventure10, Sanjana42
My Solution
By the way, I didn't take the JMO, but this took me about 20 minutes. I guess I probably should have tried Cauchy first, as above...
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tc1729
1221 posts
#10 • 7 Y
Y by Lilathebee, chessgocube, megarnie, HWenslawski, ImSh95, Adventure10, Mango247
Is there anyway to legitly solve this with Nesbitt's? because i saw the $\frac{2}{3}$, flipped it and that was the motivation for my bs.
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aZpElr68Cb51U51qy9OM
1600 posts
#11 • 11 Y
Y by Lilathebee, chessgocube, HWenslawski, Invincible0123, ImSh95, Iora, megarnie, Adventure10, Mango247, ehuseyinyigit, Sedro
I just used Titu's Lemma and used that $a^2+b^2+c^2 \ge ab+bc+ca$.
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zero.destroyer
813 posts
#12 • 7 Y
Y by megarnie, Lilathebee, chessgocube, HWenslawski, ImSh95, Adventure10, Mango247
How much credit would they give if I said there exists an x such that (a^3+3b^3)/(5a+b)>=x*a^2+(2/3-x)b^2, and this is shown when letting q=(a/b), we have x*f(q)>=g(q) for all positives q, where f, g are quartic polynomials, and since it's well known that there's always a global maximum for the ratio of two polynomials with the same degree, x exists? Basically, this seems like the motivation for a well known technique (which I didn't know), where you use weighted am-gm a bunch.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by zero.destroyer, Apr 25, 2012, 12:02 AM
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somenub
53 posts
#13 • 61 Y
Y by nsun48, BILL9, explogabloger, fractals, hamup1, AKAL3, 62861, champion999, brianapa, blawho12, WhaleVomit, bguo, droid347, oceanair, Wizard_32, biomathematics, RudraRockstar, mira74, Kanep, Imayormaynotknowcalculus, OlympusHero, Martin007B, jacoporizzo, tigerzhang, electrovector, vsamc, megarnie, ASweatyAsianBoie, Lilathebee, lethan3, tenebrine, ChrisWren, Toinfinity, mathking999, eagles2018, HWenslawski, pog, Jc426, ImSh95, Mathdreams, tree_3, aidan0626, ostriches88, ihatemath123, Adventure10, Mango247, EpicBird08, Ritwin, Jack_w, Sedro, ehuseyinyigit, hgomamogh, and 9 other users
yea i multiplied it out and used muirhead's 6 times, but hey that's why you have 4 1/2 hours
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anchenyao
292 posts
#14 • 16 Y
Y by fractals, champion999, Wizard_32, myh2910, tigerzhang, Lilathebee, ChrisWren, HWenslawski, ImSh95, Adventure10, Mango247, Ritwin, ehuseyinyigit, and 3 other users
It shouldn't take more than 1 hour with Muirhead if you know what you're doing. This problem screams of Muirhead, considering that both sides have the same degree, and multiplying will get 1296 terms on each side.
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proglote
958 posts
#15 • 14 Y
Y by champion999, OlympusHero, myh2910, Lilathebee, HWenslawski, ImSh95, Iora, Adventure10, Mango247, ehuseyinyigit, and 4 other users
lol solved this in a minute literally.. but I didn't take the test :

just WLOG $a^2 + b^2 + c^2 = 3$ and use CS: \[{\sum \frac{a^4}{5a^2 + ab} + 3 \sum \frac{b^4}{5ab + b^2} \ge \frac{9}{15 + ab+bc+ca} + \frac{27}{5(ab+bc+ca)+3} \ge 2 \iff ab+bc+ca \le 3._{\blacksquare}}\]
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somenub
53 posts
#16 • 6 Y
Y by nsun48, Lilathebee, HWenslawski, ImSh95, Adventure10, Mango247
2 muirheads could have been enough but more doesn't hurt, i still failed to solve problem 1 in the 2 1/2 hours i spent on it cause im terrible at geo
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