Good AIME/Olympiad Level Number Theory Books

by MathRook7817, Mar 26, 2025, 3:30 AM

Hey guys, do you guys have any good AIME/USAJMO Level Number Theory book suggestions?
I'm trying to get 10+ on next year's AIME and hopefully qual for USAJMO.

Westford Academy to host Middle School Math Competition

by cyou, Mar 25, 2025, 9:43 PM

Hi AOPS community,

We are excited to announce that Westford Academy (located in Westford, MA) will be hosting its first ever math competition for middle school students (grades 5-8).

Based in Massachusetts, this tournament hosts ambitious and mathematically skilled students in grades 5–8 to compete against other middle school math teams while fostering their problem-solving skills and preparing them to continue enriching their STEM skills in high school and in the future.

This competition will be held on April 12, 2025 from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM and will feature 3 rounds (team, speed, and accuracy). The problems will be of similar difficulty for AMC 8-10 and were written by USA(J)MO and AIME qualifiers.

If you are in the Massachusetts area and are curious about Mathematics, we cordially invite you to sign up by scanning the QR code on the attached flyer. Please note that teams consist of 4-6 competitors, but if you prefer to register as an individual competitor, you will be randomly placed on a team of other individual competitors. Feel free to refer the attached flyer and website as needed.


https://sites.google.com/westfordk12.us/wamt/home?authuser=2
Attachments:

USACO US Open

by neeyakkid23, Mar 25, 2025, 12:00 PM

MOP Cutoff Via USAJMO

by imagien_bad, Mar 24, 2025, 10:43 PM

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Vote here

what the yap

by KevinYang2.71, Mar 20, 2025, 12:00 PM

Alice the architect and Bob the builder play a game. First, Alice chooses two points $P$ and $Q$ in the plane and a subset $\mathcal{S}$ of the plane, which are announced to Bob. Next, Bob marks infinitely many points in the plane, designating each a city. He may not place two cities within distance at most one unit of each other, and no three cities he places may be collinear. Finally, roads are constructed between the cities as follows: for each pair $A,\,B$ of cities, they are connected with a road along the line segment $AB$ if and only if the following condition holds:
For every city $C$ distinct from $A$ and $B$, there exists $R\in\mathcal{S}$ such
that $\triangle PQR$ is directly similar to either $\triangle ABC$ or $\triangle BAC$.
Alice wins the game if (i) the resulting roads allow for travel between any pair of cities via a finite sequence of roads and (ii) no two roads cross. Otherwise, Bob wins. Determine, with proof, which player has a winning strategy.

Note: $\triangle UVW$ is directly similar to $\triangle XYZ$ if there exists a sequence of rotations, translations, and dilations sending $U$ to $X$, $V$ to $Y$, and $W$ to $Z$.

AMC 10.........

by BAM10, Mar 2, 2025, 8:02 PM

I'm in 8th grade and have never taken the AMC 10. I am currently in alg2. I have scored 20 on AMC 8 this year and 34 on the chapter math counts last year. Can I qualify for AIME. Also what should I practice AMC 10 next year?

USA Canada math camp

by Bread10, Mar 2, 2025, 5:48 AM

How difficult is it to get into USA Canada math camp? What should be expected from an accepted applicant in terms of the qualifying quiz, essays and other awards or math context?

[TEST RELEASED] Mock Geometry Test for College Competitions

by Bluesoul, Feb 24, 2025, 9:42 AM

Hi AOPSers,

I have finished writing a mock geometry test for fun and practice for the real college competitions like HMMT/PUMaC/CMIMC... There would be 10 questions and you should finish the test in 60 minutes, the test would be close to the actual test (hopefully). You could sign up under this thread, PM me your answers!. The submission would close on March 31st at 11:59PM PST.

I would create a private discussion forum so everyone could discuss after finishing the test. This is the first mock I've written, please sign up and enjoy geometry!!

~Bluesoul

Discussion forum: Discussion forum

Leaderboard
Attachments:
Mock_Geometry Test Final.pdf (91kb)
This post has been edited 12 times. Last edited by Bluesoul, 3 hours ago

2024 AMC 10B Discussion Thread

by LauraZed, Nov 13, 2024, 5:09 PM

Discuss the 2024 AMC 10 B here!

Links to individual discussion threads.

If you want to start a thread to discuss a particular problem, first check the list above to see if it already exists. Please add the tag "2024 AMC 10B" on individual problem threads and include the problem number in the source to make it easier for people to find the thread in the future through tags or searching.

(We're using this "official discussion thread" strategy as a way to keep things more organized. You can create additional threads about the exam if they're for a distinct enough purpose – for example, if they include a poll – but questions/comments about your impressions of the test overall can be discussed in this thread.)
This post has been edited 7 times. Last edited by LauraZed, Nov 13, 2024, 6:20 PM

[TEST RELEASED] OMMC Year 4

by DottedCaculator, Apr 23, 2024, 2:31 PM

FINAL LEADERBOARD: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/12RamVH-gQIPN4wibYZVqkx1F2JQuy5Li_8IJ8TqVEyg/htmlview#gid=409219165

Hello to all creative problem solvers,

Do you want to work on a fun, untimed team math competition with amazing questions by MOPpers and IMO & EGMO medalists? $\phantom{You lost the game.}$
Do you want to have a chance to win thousands in cash and raffle prizes (no matter your skill level)?

Check out the fourth annual iteration of the

Online Monmouth Math Competition!

Online Monmouth Math Competition, or OMMC, is a 501c3 accredited nonprofit organization managed by adults, college students, and high schoolers which aims to give talented high school and middle school students an exciting way to develop their skills in mathematics.

Our website: https://www.ommcofficial.org/
Our Discord (5000+ members): https://tinyurl.com/joinommc
Test portal: https://ommc-test-portal.vercel.app/

This is not a local competition; any student 18 or younger anywhere in the world can attend. We have changed some elements of our contest format, so read carefully and thoroughly. Join our Discord or monitor this thread for updates and test releases.

How hard is it?

We plan to raffle out a TON of prizes over all competitors regardless of performance. So just submit: a few minutes of your time will give you a great chance to win amazing prizes!

How are the problems?

You can check out our past problems and sample problems here:
https://www.ommcofficial.org/sample
https://www.ommcofficial.org/2022-documents
https://www.ommcofficial.org/2023-documents
https://www.ommcofficial.org/ommc-amc

How will the test be held?/How do I sign up?

Solo teams?

Test Policy

Timeline:

Main Round: May 19th - May 26th
Test Portal Released. The Main Round of the contest is held. The Main Round consists of 25 questions that each have a numerical answer. Teams will have the entire time interval to work on the questions. They can submit any time during the interval. Teams are free to edit their submissions before the period ends, even after they submit.

Final Round: May 28th - May 30th
The top placing teams will qualify for this invitational round (7 questions). The final round consists of 7 proof questions. Teams again will have the entire time interval to work on these questions and can submit their proofs any time during this interval. Teams are free to edit their submissions before the period ends, even after they submit.

Conclusion of Competition: Early June
Solutions will be released, winners announced, and prizes sent out to winners.

Scoring:

Prizes:

I have more questions. Whom do I ask?

We hope for your participation, and good luck!

OMMC staff


OMMC’S 2024 EVENTS ARE SPONSORED BY:

  • Nontrivial Fellowship
  • Citadel
  • SPARC
  • Jane Street
  • And counting!
Attachments:
OMMC2024MAIN.pdf (290kb)
This post has been edited 5 times. Last edited by DottedCaculator, Jul 31, 2024, 1:21 AM

The Ex-points and the Queue-points - Part Two

by math_pi_rate, Mar 30, 2019, 8:12 PM

As promised by me in the shout box, here's the second part to the intro of these beautiful points (I guess a little late :P). I'll try to cover some nice and hidden applications of this configuration, touching upon a variety of problems (hopefully :gleam:). So, without further ado, let's start this 'safar' (I have tried to arrange the problems in order of difficulty):-

PROBLEM-1 (APMO 2012 Problem 4)
Let $ ABC $ be an acute triangle. Denote by $ D $ the foot of the perpendicular line drawn from the point $ A $ to the side $ BC $, by $M$ the midpoint of $ BC $, and by $ H $ the orthocenter of $ ABC $. Let $ E $ be the point of intersection of the circumcircle $ \Gamma $ of the triangle $ ABC $ and the half line $ MH $, and $ F $ be the point of intersection (other than $E$) of the line $ ED $ and the circle $ \Gamma $. Prove that $ \tfrac{BF}{CF} = \tfrac{AB}{AC} $ must hold.

Solution: By Property 1, we know that $E$ is the $A$-Queue point of $\triangle ABC$ (rename it as $Q_A$ from now on). Seeing this point, we add in the $A$-Ex point $X_A$. Also note that we are supposed to show that $ABFC$ is harmonic, for which we will require some sort of perspectivity. As all points are closely linked to the point $Q_A$, so it is our first and foremost choice for perspector. Using the fact that $CDBX_A$ is harmonic (I guess this has been given in the proof of Property-3), and with the help of Property-1, we get that $$-1=(B,C;D,X_A) \overset{Q_A}{=} (B,C;F,A) \Rightarrow ABFC \text{ is harmonic.}$$
REMARK: Remember this problem as a property itself. Another similar problem is Brazil MO 2011 Problem 5. The details of the proof are left to the reader as an exercise (If someone wants, they can post their proof in the comments section later).

PROBLEM-2 (Vietnam MO 2019 Problem 6)
Given an acute triangle $ABC$ and $(O)$ be its circumcircle, and $H$ is its orthocenter. Let $M, N, P$ be midpoints of $BC, CA, AB$, respectively. $D, E, F$ are the feet of the altitudes from $A, B$ and $C$, respectively. Let $K$ symmetry with $H$ through $BC$. $DE$ intersects $MP$ at $X$, $DF$ intersects $MN$ at $Y$.
a) $XY$ intersects smaller arc $BC$ of $(O)$ at $Z$. Prove that $K, Z, E, F$ are concyclic.
b) $KE, KF$ intersect $(O)$ at $S, T$ ($S, T\ne K$), respectively. Prove that $BS, CT, XY$ are concurent.

Solution: As there are too many points on a single circle (namely the nine-point circle), and the intersections of some lines formed by them is concerned, so we resort to Pascal. Trying to form the desired intersections, we apply Pascal to $FDENMP$, to find that $A,X,Y$ are in fact collinear. At first glance, the given conditions do not give any more significant information (atleast not to me :P). So we look at what we are supposed to prove. As the point $Z$ must be fixed, we get interested in finding that point first. Suppose we assume that what we are supposed to prove is true (Remember this trick). Then by Radical Axes Theorem on $\odot (ABC),\odot (BCEF),\odot (KZEF)$, we get that $KZ$ passes through the $A$-Ex point $X_A$ of $\triangle ABC$. Wow! That's interesting. But again we are stuck. At this point of time, I always try to incorporate the fact that $CDBX_A$ is harmonic. Taking perspectivity from $K$, we get that $$-1=(B,C;D,X_A) \overset{K}{=} (B,C;A,Z) \Rightarrow AZ \text{ must be the symmedian}$$So we arrive at the most crucial part of the solution. We just need to show that the line $\overline{AXY}$ is the $A$-symmedian, in which case the above harmonic bundles (and some use of Power of Point in place of Radical Axes Theorem) will do the job.

Now, the main question is how to show that $AX$ is the $A$-symmedian. Because of the weird definition of $X$, there's not much one can do apart from applying Pascal's Theorem again. Trying to find some nice hexagons involving $X$, we stumble upon $DEFPMM$. This is nice, as we know that $ME=MF$, and so we get that $BX \parallel EF$. Now, it is some manipulations before finding a way out. What I did was take notice of the fact that $X$ lies on $MP$, and so the reflection of $B$ in $X$ (say $B'$) must lie on $AC$. This is quite helpful, because we also know that $BB'$ is antiparallel wrt $\angle BAC$ (as $BB' \parallel EF$). But, $AX$ bisects $BB'$, which directly gives that it must be the $A$-symmedian (this is quite well known I guess). Thus, we are done with Part (a).

For Part (b), we again use our friend this evening, Pascal (the motivation comes from the number of points involved on the circumcircle of $\triangle ABC$). This is easy, and with some trial and error, one easily gets the two desired hexagons $KSBACT$ and $AZKSBC$, after which one can finish using the fact that $KZ,BC,EF$ are concurrent.

REMARK: This solution illustrates the power of Pascal. Most of the students are aware of it, but still its true nature is never used to the fullest. You can find my original solution here.

So let's move on to some TST problems (due to time constraint, I'll only be able to take up 3 problems; readers can include more problems in the comments section if they wish to :)).

PROBLEM-3 (Bosnia and Herzegovina 2018 TST Day 1 Problem 1)
In acute triangle $ABC$ $(AB < AC)$ let $D$, $E$ and $F$ be foots of perpedicular from $A$, $B$ and $C$ to $BC$, $CA$ and $AB$, respectively. Let $P$ and $Q$ be points on line $EF$ such that $DP \perp EF$ and $BQ=CQ$. Prove that $\angle ADP = \angle PBQ$

Solution: Let $M$ be the midpoint of $BC$ (we introduce to get a link to $Q$). Then $PQMD$ is cyclic. Our solution is motivated by this well-known lemma and its converse (Lemma 9.17 in EGMO). Without knowing that lemma, it might be difficult to produce this proof (Basically I am just telling you to learn it ASAP :D). According to this lemma, if $X_A$ denotes the $A$-Ex point of $\triangle ABC$, then $X_AM \cdot X_AD=X_AB \cdot X_AC$ (as $CDBX_A$ is harmonic). But, $X_A \in PQ$, so we get $X_AP \cdot X_AQ=X_AD \cdot X_AM$. Combining these two equalities, we see that $BCQP$ is cyclic. As $QB=QC$, so we get that in fact $PQ$ bisects $\angle BPC$ externally. This is the crucial part of the solution. After this it is just some angle chasing (unfortunately there's not much motivation for that; you just try to find nice angles). The full proof can be found here.

REMARK: All the above solutions show how important the harmonic bundle $CDBX_A$ is. Always try to use this.

PROBLEM-4 (USA TSTST 2016 Problem 2)
Let $ABC$ be a scalene triangle with orthocenter $H$ and circumcenter $O$. Denote by $P$, $M$ the midpoints of $\overline{AH}$, $\overline{BC}$. Suppose the circle $\gamma$ with diameter $\overline{AH}$ meets the circumcircle of $ABC$ at $Q_A \neq A$, and meets line $AM$ at a point $H_A \neq A$. The tangent to $\gamma$ at $Q_A$ meets line $OP$ at $K$. Show that the circumcircles of $\triangle Q_AMH_A$ and $\triangle PBC$ intersect at a point $T$ on $\overline{KM}$.

Solution: Let's sort this information first (This is really important to all geo problems). By its definition, $Q_A$ is the $A$-Queue point, and $H_A$ is the $A$-Humpty point. Also, $K$ lies on $OP$, which is nothing but the perpendicular bisector of $AQ_A$. So $KA=KQ_A$, which means that $KA$ is also tangent to $\gamma$. So, in quadrilateral $AQ_AEF$, $K=AA \cap Q_AQ_A$ and $M=EE \cap FF$ (all tangents taken wrt $\gamma$). Applying Pascal on $AAEQ_AQ_AF$ and $AEEQ_AFF$, we get that $AE \cap Q_AF,AF \cap Q_AE,K,M$ are collinear (this is true for all cyclic quadrilaterals; learn this result as a fact as it is quite useful). Now, these two new intersection points move us closer towards a complete quadrilateral. So let's "complete" this complete quadrilateral configuration (pun intended :D). We add in the $A$-Ex point $X_A=AQ_A \cap EF$. As discussed in Problem-3 of Part One, this should motivate us to look for Brokard's Theorem. Then using Brokard (and the collinearity discussed earlier), we get that $KM$ is the polar of $X_A$ wrt $\gamma$. So we have removed point $K$, and now it suffices to show that $T$ lies on the polar of $X_A$.

Let's look at the two circles now. Using Properties-1,2 and 3, we know that $\angle MQ_AX_A=\angle MH_AX_A=90^{\circ}$, which means that $X_A \in \odot (Q_AMH_A)$. Suppose what we are supposed to prove is true, i.e. $TM$ is the polar of $X_A$ wrt $\gamma$. But, $\angle MTX_A=90^{\circ}$ (as $T \in \odot (Q_AMH_AX_A)$). So we get that $T$ must in fact be the inverse of $X$ wrt $\gamma$. As the original direction is a bit difficult to prove, we will try to use phantom points. Let $T'$ be the inverse of $X_A$ wrt $\gamma$. As $\angle MT'X_A=90^{\circ}$, so $T' \in \odot (Q_AMH_AX_A)$. Thus it suffices to show that $T' \in \odot (PBC)$, which is equivalent to proving that $X_AB \cdot X_AC=X_AP \cdot X_AT'$ (since $P,T',X_A$ are collinear). However, $X_AP \cdot X_AT'$ is nothing but the power of $X_A$ wrt $\gamma$ (as $T'$ is the inverse of $X_A$ in $\gamma$). Thus, $$X_AT \cdot X_AP=X_AE \cdot X_AF=X_AB \cdot X_AC$$
REMARK: To be honest, this problem doesn't require any remarks :D. A "complete" solution can be seen here.

PROBLEM-5 (2015 Taiwan TST Round 3 Quiz 1 Problem 2)
Let $O$ be the circumcircle of the triangle $ABC$. Two circles $O_1,O_2$ are tangent to each of the circle $O$ and the rays $\overrightarrow{AB},\overrightarrow{AC}$, with $O_1$ interior to $O$, $O_2$ exterior to $O$. The common tangent of $O,O_1$ and the common tangent of $O,O_2$ intersect at the point $X$. Let $M$ be the midpoint of the arc $BC$ (not containing the point $A$) on the circle $O$, and the segment $\overline{AA'}$ be the diameter of $O$. Prove that $X,M$, and $A'$ are collinear.

Solution: This problem is one of my favourite problems, with a short, yet beautiful solution. Seeing the involvement of both the $A$-mixtilinear incircle and excircle, we perform $\sqrt{bc}$ inversion, to get the following equivalent problem:-
Inverted problem wrote:
Let $P$ and $Q$ be the $A$-intouch and $A$-extouch point in $\triangle ABC$, $X$ be the foot of internal angle bisector of $\angle BAC$, and $D$ be the foot of the $A$-altitude. Let $H_A$ be the $A$-Humpty point of $\triangle APQ$. Show that $ADXH_A$ is cyclic.
We are supposed to show that $ADXH_A$ is cyclic; or equivalently that $\angle XH_AA=\angle XDA=90^{\circ}$. But, applying Property-3 to $\triangle APQ$ (The only major difficulty in this problem), this is only possible if $X$ is the $A$-Ex point of $\triangle APQ$. As $D$ is also the foot of $A$-altitude of $\triangle APQ$, so it suffices to prove that $DPXQ$ is harmonic (See the Remark given after Problem-3 above). Now, we again turn our attention back to $\triangle ABC$. Then one can easily finish as given in my solution here.

REMARK: After reading the solution above, one might be compelled to think that this problem is not that hard. However, according to me, the main difficulty one faces in this solution is to quickly turn one's attention from one triangle to another. This is really important, and so I'll again bring the reader's attention to this point. Basically, do not be constrained by the reference triangle given in the problem. Try exploring other triangles. Often hard problems are simply restatements of well known facts wrt some other triangle. Two triangles which easily interchange amongst themselves are the excentral triangle and the orthic triangle. I prefer working with the orthocenter configuration, but your preference might be something else. A nice example of this is USAMO 2017 P3.

With this, I come to an end to this section. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed this post (If that is so, feel free to comment). My next post will most probably come after IMOTC only now, so with that I bid adieu to all. Sayonara :bye:
This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by math_pi_rate, Dec 4, 2019, 6:56 PM

Geo Geo everywhere, nor a point to see.

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  • First comment of January 26, 2025!

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  • And here's the first of 2025!

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  • First comment of 2024!

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  • Wowowooo my man came backkkk

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  • Aah the thrill of coming back to a dead blog every year once!

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  • kukuku 1st comment of 2023

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  • 1st comment of 2022

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  • duh i found this masterpiece after the owner went inactive noooooooooooo :sadge: :(

    by Project_Donkey_into_M4, Nov 23, 2021, 2:56 PM

  • Hi everyone! Sorry but I doubt if I'll be reviving this anytime soon :oops:

    I might post something if I find anything interesting, but they'll mostly be short posts, unlike the previous ones!

    by math_pi_rate, Nov 7, 2020, 7:39 PM

  • @below be patient. He must be busy with some other work. :)

    by amar_04, Oct 22, 2020, 10:23 AM

  • Advanced is over now, please revive this please!

    by Geronimo_1501, Oct 12, 2020, 5:10 AM

  • REVIVE please

    by Gaussian_cyber, Aug 28, 2020, 2:19 PM

  • re-vi-ve

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  • re-vi-ve

    by fukano_2, May 30, 2020, 2:09 AM

  • Try this: Prove that a two colored cow has an odd number of Agis Phesis

    by Synthetic_Potato, Apr 18, 2020, 5:29 PM

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