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Contests & Programs AMC and other contests, summer programs, etc.
AMC and other contests, summer programs, etc.
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Contests & Programs AMC and other contests, summer programs, etc.
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k a April Highlights and 2025 AoPS Online Class Information
jlacosta   0
Apr 2, 2025
Spring is in full swing and summer is right around the corner, what are your plans? At AoPS Online our schedule has new classes starting now through July, so be sure to keep your skills sharp and be prepared for the Fall school year! Check out the schedule of upcoming classes below.

WOOT early bird pricing is in effect, don’t miss out! If you took MathWOOT Level 2 last year, no worries, it is all new problems this year! Our Worldwide Online Olympiad Training program is for high school level competitors. AoPS designed these courses to help our top students get the deep focus they need to succeed in their specific competition goals. Check out the details at this link for all our WOOT programs in math, computer science, chemistry, and physics.

Looking for summer camps in math and language arts? Be sure to check out the video-based summer camps offered at the Virtual Campus that are 2- to 4-weeks in duration. There are middle and high school competition math camps as well as Math Beasts camps that review key topics coupled with fun explorations covering areas such as graph theory (Math Beasts Camp 6), cryptography (Math Beasts Camp 7-8), and topology (Math Beasts Camp 8-9)!

Be sure to mark your calendars for the following events:
[list][*]April 3rd (Webinar), 4pm PT/7:00pm ET, Learning with AoPS: Perspectives from a Parent, Math Camp Instructor, and University Professor
[*]April 8th (Math Jam), 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET, 2025 MATHCOUNTS State Discussion
April 9th (Webinar), 4:00pm PT/7:00pm ET, Learn about Video-based Summer Camps at the Virtual Campus
[*]April 10th (Math Jam), 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET, 2025 MathILy and MathILy-Er Math Jam: Multibackwards Numbers
[*]April 22nd (Webinar), 4:00pm PT/7:00pm ET, Competitive Programming at AoPS (USACO).[/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
Apr 2, 2025
0 replies
k i Adding contests to the Contest Collections
dcouchman   1
N Apr 5, 2023 by v_Enhance
Want to help AoPS remain a valuable Olympiad resource? Help us add contests to AoPS's Contest Collections.

Find instructions and a list of contests to add here: https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c40244h1064480_contests_to_add
1 reply
dcouchman
Sep 9, 2019
v_Enhance
Apr 5, 2023
k i Zero tolerance
ZetaX   49
N May 4, 2019 by NoDealsHere
Source: Use your common sense! (enough is enough)
Some users don't want to learn, some other simply ignore advises.
But please follow the following guideline:


To make it short: ALWAYS USE YOUR COMMON SENSE IF POSTING!
If you don't have common sense, don't post.


More specifically:

For new threads:


a) Good, meaningful title:
The title has to say what the problem is about in best way possible.
If that title occured already, it's definitely bad. And contest names aren't good either.
That's in fact a requirement for being able to search old problems.

Examples:
Bad titles:
- "Hard"/"Medium"/"Easy" (if you find it so cool how hard/easy it is, tell it in the post and use a title that tells us the problem)
- "Number Theory" (hey guy, guess why this forum's named that way¿ and is it the only such problem on earth¿)
- "Fibonacci" (there are millions of Fibonacci problems out there, all posted and named the same...)
- "Chinese TST 2003" (does this say anything about the problem¿)
Good titles:
- "On divisors of a³+2b³+4c³-6abc"
- "Number of solutions to x²+y²=6z²"
- "Fibonacci numbers are never squares"


b) Use search function:
Before posting a "new" problem spend at least two, better five, minutes to look if this problem was posted before. If it was, don't repost it. If you have anything important to say on topic, post it in one of the older threads.
If the thread is locked cause of this, use search function.

Update (by Amir Hossein). The best way to search for two keywords in AoPS is to input
[code]+"first keyword" +"second keyword"[/code]
so that any post containing both strings "first word" and "second form".


c) Good problem statement:
Some recent really bad post was:
[quote]$lim_{n\to 1}^{+\infty}\frac{1}{n}-lnn$[/quote]
It contains no question and no answer.
If you do this, too, you are on the best way to get your thread deleted. Write everything clearly, define where your variables come from (and define the "natural" numbers if used). Additionally read your post at least twice before submitting. After you sent it, read it again and use the Edit-Button if necessary to correct errors.


For answers to already existing threads:


d) Of any interest and with content:
Don't post things that are more trivial than completely obvious. For example, if the question is to solve $x^{3}+y^{3}=z^{3}$, do not answer with "$x=y=z=0$ is a solution" only. Either you post any kind of proof or at least something unexpected (like "$x=1337, y=481, z=42$ is the smallest solution). Someone that does not see that $x=y=z=0$ is a solution of the above without your post is completely wrong here, this is an IMO-level forum.
Similar, posting "I have solved this problem" but not posting anything else is not welcome; it even looks that you just want to show off what a genius you are.

e) Well written and checked answers:
Like c) for new threads, check your solutions at least twice for mistakes. And after sending, read it again and use the Edit-Button if necessary to correct errors.



To repeat it: ALWAYS USE YOUR COMMON SENSE IF POSTING!


Everything definitely out of range of common sense will be locked or deleted (exept for new users having less than about 42 posts, they are newbies and need/get some time to learn).

The above rules will be applied from next monday (5. march of 2007).
Feel free to discuss on this here.
49 replies
ZetaX
Feb 27, 2007
NoDealsHere
May 4, 2019
2^x+3^x = yx^2
truongphatt2668   7
N 28 minutes ago by Jackson0423
Prove that the following equation has infinite integer solutions:
$$2^x+3^x = yx^2$$
7 replies
truongphatt2668
Apr 22, 2025
Jackson0423
28 minutes ago
Question on Balkan SL
Fmimch   1
N an hour ago by Fmimch
Does anyone know where to find the Balkan MO Shortlist 2024? If you have the file, could you send in this thread? Thank you!
1 reply
Fmimch
Today at 12:13 AM
Fmimch
an hour ago
AMSP Combo 2 and Alg 2.5
idk12345678   4
N 2 hours ago by Bread10
Im gonna be taking Geo 2 and i was deciding if to take combo 2, alg2.5, both, or neither.

My main goal is to qualify for JMO in 10th grade(next yr). Ive done aops int c+p but i didnt fully understand everything.

Would combo 2 and/or alg 2 be good for jmo qual?
4 replies
idk12345678
Yesterday at 2:12 PM
Bread10
2 hours ago
Easy Geometry Problem in Taiwan TST
chengbilly   7
N 2 hours ago by L13832
Source: 2025 Taiwan TST Round 1 Independent Study 2-G
Suppose $I$ and $I_A$ are the incenter and the $A$-excenter of triangle $ABC$, respectively.
Let $M$ be the midpoint of arc $BAC$ on the circumcircle, and $D$ be the foot of the
perpendicular from $I_A$ to $BC$. The line $MI$ intersects the circumcircle again at $T$ . For
any point $X$ on the circumcircle of triangle $ABC$, let $XT$ intersect $BC$ at $Y$ . Prove
that $A, D, X, Y$ are concyclic.
7 replies
chengbilly
Mar 6, 2025
L13832
2 hours ago
Overlapping game
Kei0923   3
N 2 hours ago by CrazyInMath
Source: 2023 Japan MO Finals 1
On $5\times 5$ squares, we cover the area with several S-Tetrominos (=Z-Tetrominos) along the square so that in every square, there are two or fewer tiles covering that (tiles can be overlap). Find the maximum possible number of squares covered by at least one tile.
3 replies
1 viewing
Kei0923
Feb 11, 2023
CrazyInMath
2 hours ago
Interesting Function
Kei0923   4
N 3 hours ago by CrazyInMath
Source: 2024 JMO preliminary p8
Function $f:\mathbb{Z}_{\geq 0}\rightarrow\mathbb{Z}$ satisfies
$$f(m+n)^2=f(m|f(n)|)+f(n^2)$$for any non-negative integers $m$ and $n$. Determine the number of possible sets of integers $\{f(0), f(1), \dots, f(2024)\}$.
4 replies
Kei0923
Jan 9, 2024
CrazyInMath
3 hours ago
Functional Geometry
GreekIdiot   1
N 3 hours ago by ItzsleepyXD
Source: BMO 2024 SL G7
Let $f: \pi \to \mathbb R$ be a function from the Euclidean plane to the real numbers such that $f(A)+f(B)+f(C)=f(O)+f(G)+f(H)$ for any acute triangle $\Delta ABC$ with circumcenter $O$, centroid $G$ and orthocenter $H$. Prove that $f$ is constant.
1 reply
GreekIdiot
Apr 27, 2025
ItzsleepyXD
3 hours ago
MasterScholar North Carolina Math Camp
Ruegerbyrd   4
N 3 hours ago by tonykuncheng
Is this legit? Worth the cost ($6500)? Program Fees Cover: Tuition, course materials, field trip costs, and housing and meals at Saint Mary's School.

"Themes:

1. From Number Theory and Special Relativity to Game Theory
2. Applications to Economics

Subjects Covered:

Number Theory - Group Theory - RSA Encryption - Game Theory - Estimating Pi - Complex Numbers - Quaternions - Topology of Surfaces - Introduction to Differential Geometry - Collective Decision Making - Survey of Calculus - Applications to Economics - Statistics and the Central Limit Theorem - Special Relativity"

website(?): https://www.teenlife.com/l/summer/masterscholar-north-carolina-math-camp/
4 replies
Ruegerbyrd
3 hours ago
tonykuncheng
3 hours ago
Olympiad Problems Correlation with Computational?
FuturePanda   8
N 3 hours ago by deduck
Hi everyone,

Recently I;ve started doing a lot of nice combo/algebra Olympiad problems(JMO, PAGMO, CMO, etc.) and I’ve got to say, it’s been pretty fun(I’m enjoying it!). I was wondering if doing Olympiad problems also helps increase computational abilities slightly. Currently I am doing 75% computational, 25% oly but if anyone has any expreience I want to switch it to 25% computational and 75% Olympiad, though I still want to have computational skills for ARML, AIME, SMT, BMT, HMMT, etc.

If anyone has any experience, please let me know!

Thank you so much in advance!
8 replies
FuturePanda
Apr 26, 2025
deduck
3 hours ago
hard inequalities
pennypc123456789   1
N 3 hours ago by 1475393141xj
Given $x,y,z$ be the positive real number. Prove that

$\frac{2xy}{\sqrt{2xy(x^2+y^2)}} + \frac{2yz}{\sqrt{2yz(y^2+z^2)}} + \frac{2xz}{\sqrt{2xz(x^2+z^2)}} \le \frac{2(x^2+y^2+z^2) + xy+yz+xz}{x^2+y^2+z^2}$
1 reply
pennypc123456789
Today at 12:12 AM
1475393141xj
3 hours ago
Cute R+ fe
Aryan-23   6
N 3 hours ago by jasperE3
Source: IISc Pravega, Enumeration 2023-24 Finals P1
Find all functions $f\colon \mathbb R^+ \mapsto \mathbb R^+$, such that for all positive reals $x,y$, the following is true:

$$xf(1+xf(y))= f\left(f(x) + \frac 1y\right)$$
Kazi Aryan Amin
6 replies
Aryan-23
Jan 27, 2024
jasperE3
3 hours ago
Easy Combinatorial Game Problem in Taiwan TST
chengbilly   8
N 3 hours ago by CrazyInMath
Source: 2025 Taiwan TST Round 1 Independent Study 1-C
Alice and Bob are playing game on an $n \times n$ grid. Alice goes first, and they take turns drawing a black point from the coordinate set
\[\{(i, j) \mid i, j \in \mathbb{N}, 1 \leq i, j \leq n\}\]There is a constraint that the distance between any two black points cannot be an integer. The player who cannot draw a black point loses. Find all integers $n$ such that Alice has a winning strategy.

Proposed by chengbilly
8 replies
1 viewing
chengbilly
Mar 5, 2025
CrazyInMath
3 hours ago
Tiling problem (Combinatorics or Number Theory?)
Rukevwe   4
N 3 hours ago by CrazyInMath
Source: 2022 Nigerian MO Round 3/Problem 3
A unit square is removed from the corner of an $n \times n$ grid, where $n \geq 2$. Prove that the remainder can be covered by copies of the figures of $3$ or $5$ unit squares depicted in the drawing below.
IMAGE

Note: Every square must be covered once and figures must not go over the bounds of the grid.
4 replies
Rukevwe
May 2, 2022
CrazyInMath
3 hours ago
9 Did I make the right choice?
Martin2001   16
N 4 hours ago by megarnie
If you were in 8th grade, would you rather go to MOP or mc nats? I chose to study the former more and got in so was wondering if that was valid given that I'll never make mc nats.
16 replies
Martin2001
Yesterday at 1:42 PM
megarnie
4 hours ago
AIME II 2014 #12: Implications for competitive mathematics
CreateAloha   19
N Aug 10, 2022 by sugar_rush
Now a senior in high school, I have participated in competitive math for 6 years. After reading forum posts and discussions about the similarity between #12 on the AIME II 2014 and a question on one of this year's AMC Advantage tests, I am extremely disappointed in the MAA. I will no longer promote the AMC competitions in the state of Hawaii, nor ever recommend this discipline to future generations. I have no malice toward AMC Advantage users, bur rather toward the greed and deception of the MAA. You can attribute my feelings to a shortcoming of USAMO (9 on AIME 1, so close!), and while this may be partially true, you cannot hold the MAA innocent for this incident. Nearly verbatim problems that occur within such a short time period? Please. What happened to the supposedly innovative, thought-provoking questions that the AMC tests are commended for? From their website, "the AMC program identifies, recognizes, and rewards excellence in mathematics through a series of national contests." They do not reward excellence; they reward expenses toward their corrupt AMC Advantage. I fear for the future of competitive math. I have been deceived for 6 years.
19 replies
CreateAloha
Mar 29, 2014
sugar_rush
Aug 10, 2022
AIME II 2014 #12: Implications for competitive mathematics
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CreateAloha
7 posts
#1 • 4 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 2 other users
Now a senior in high school, I have participated in competitive math for 6 years. After reading forum posts and discussions about the similarity between #12 on the AIME II 2014 and a question on one of this year's AMC Advantage tests, I am extremely disappointed in the MAA. I will no longer promote the AMC competitions in the state of Hawaii, nor ever recommend this discipline to future generations. I have no malice toward AMC Advantage users, bur rather toward the greed and deception of the MAA. You can attribute my feelings to a shortcoming of USAMO (9 on AIME 1, so close!), and while this may be partially true, you cannot hold the MAA innocent for this incident. Nearly verbatim problems that occur within such a short time period? Please. What happened to the supposedly innovative, thought-provoking questions that the AMC tests are commended for? From their website, "the AMC program identifies, recognizes, and rewards excellence in mathematics through a series of national contests." They do not reward excellence; they reward expenses toward their corrupt AMC Advantage. I fear for the future of competitive math. I have been deceived for 6 years.
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Wolstenholme
543 posts
#2 • 3 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user
While your anger is somewhat justified, please understand that unlike in proof based contests like the USA(J)MO in which problems can be innovative everytime, problems of this level are often repeated or at least their ideas are repeated. I assure you that if you look at every amc10, amc12, aime, hmmt, pumac, Stanford math contest, first rounds from other countries, etcetera you will find TONS of repeats. It just happened to be unlucky that these were so close in time span and in "provider."
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kwansun
20 posts
#3 • 21 Y
Y by lucylai, droid347, jubjubdaboss, sicilianfan, henrikjb, GeneralCobra19, tigerzhang, CyclicISLscelesTrapezoid, Toinfinity, mathtiger6, ike.chen, Adventure10, aidan0626, and 8 other users
Yeah, the one month old program AMC Advantage has deceived you for 6 years :(((((( AMC must be really evil to come up with a program that can do something like that. It doesn't even matter that the AMC's motivated countless numbers of kids to deeply study mathematics, that one aime problem is ridiculous!!!! I had a feeling they've been plotting something like this for six years...
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Tan
494 posts
#4 • 1 Y
Y by Adventure10
I believe that your justification is invalid. You can find all AMC, AIME and maybe even USAMO and USAJMO problems (or at least similar in concept) in many textbooks, etc. I really don't understand why you are really mad at one problem being on AMC Advantage. Then again, this is only my opinion.
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Konigsberg
2211 posts
#5 • 3 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user
That's because AMC Advantage is very closely related to the MAA, and I think that MAA, the ones who run the AIME, earns money from AMC Advantage.
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droid347
2679 posts
#6 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
Konigsberg wrote:
That's because AMC Advantage is very closely related to the MAA, and I think that MAA, the ones who run the AIME, earns money from AMC Advantage.
I'm pretty sure the MAA runs AMC advantage.
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dantx5
1464 posts
#7 • 1 Y
Y by Adventure10
^slippery slope there
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borntobeweild
331 posts
#8 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10 and 1 other user
Has anyone considered the possibility that perhaps they just had the problem lying around somewhere, and it accidentally got used for both contests? (Something very similar occurred to let this problem get used for both USAMO and BMO.) The people who run math contests are human too, and I find it much more likely that this seeming corruption was the result of an honest mistake.

Though I'm sure others as well as myself would like to see an apology, formal or just on AoPS, given by one of the people from AMC headquarters. So far, I haven't heard any word from them, but maybe I just haven't searched carefully enough? :maybe:
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v_Enhance
6877 posts
#9 • 33 Y
Y by geoishard, csmath, TheMaskedMagician, henrikjb, pedronr, mathwizard888, MSTang, 62861, champion999, anantmudgal09, GeneralCobra19, 277546, HamstPan38825, tigerzhang, CyclicISLscelesTrapezoid, Toinfinity, Mogmog8, sehgalsh, Geometry285, Adventure10, Mango247, aidan0626, and 11 other users
This topic is a really perfect example of a bias called prior neglect! Let's explain this in detail.

Suppose I introduce you to my friend Tom and you find out that he's shy. Is he more likely to be a business major or a math major?

As an estimate, let's say 70% of math majors are shy and 10% of business majors are shy. Of course, $70\% \gg 10\%$, so most people would quite naturally assume that Tom is probably a math major. Guess what? Wrong answer!

Why? There are about 20 times more business majors than math majors. If you meet $105$ random people, you would find maybe $100$ business majors and $5$ math majors. Of these, maybe 3-4 of the math majors would be shy; 7 of the business majors would be shy. So in fact, it's about twice as likely that Tom is a business major.

Oops. This is prior neglect -- people tend to forget their initial perceptions after seeing evidence. It is very dangerous because it leads you to wrong conclusions. (Suppose a test is 99% accurate and you test positive for a rare disease which requires immediate treatment. What's the chance you actually have it? Better hope your doctor gets that right.)

---
Anyways, time to actually respond to the original post. Aside from the prior neglect I mentioned, you are also vastly underestimating the chance that two similar problems appear.
CreateAloha wrote:
What happened to the supposedly innovative, thought-provoking questions that the AMC tests are commended for?
They are hard to write.
CreateAloha wrote:
Nearly verbatim problems that occur within such a short time period? Please.
Oh, it happens. In fact, it happens a lot.
WOOT AIME 3 2011 #2 wrote:
In a convex polygon with 18 sides, the angles are all positive integers (when measured in degrees) and form a nonconstant arithmetic sequence. Find the measure of the smallest angle, in degrees.
AIME II 2011 #3 wrote:
The degree measures of the angles of a convex 18-sided polygon form an increasing arithmetic sequence with integer values. Find the degree measure of the smallest angle.
WOOT Problem of the Day 11/1/2010 wrote:
Choose three random distinct vertices $A$,$B$,$C$ from a regular 123-gon. The probability that triangle $ABC$ is obtuse can be expressed as $\frac{m}{n}$ for relatively prime positive integers m and n. Find m+n.
AIME I 2011 #10 wrote:
The probability that a set of three distinct vertices chosen at random from among the vertices of a regular $n$-gon determine an obtuse triangle is $\frac{93}{125}$. Find the sum of all possible values of $n$.

This happens when lots and lots of problems exist. We don't do it intentionally, but it's basically impossible to verify that a new idea has never been seen before. (In fact I basically assume that any idea for a problem I come up with has appeared before and just try to make sure it hasn't frequently appeared before.)
Wolstenholme wrote:
While your anger is somewhat justified, please understand that unlike in proof based contests like the USA(J)MO in which problems can be innovative everytime...
Nah, the same thing happens in olympiads too. Especially geometry.

So before you all accuse the MAA of intentionally placing two similar problems on close exams, please consider the possibility that the MAA is not evil. Seems pretty likely to me.
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Konigsberg
2211 posts
#10 • 1 Y
Y by Adventure10
If this appeared somewhere where MAA has no direct relation to then there would be not that much of an uproar. However, this came out ALMOST verbatim from the AMC advantage, wherein MAA earns money. I believe that for most people, date is not the issue. It is the involvement of the same organization for both tests and the possibility of corruption, etc.
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v_Enhance
6877 posts
#11 • 7 Y
Y by geoishard, csmath, HamstPan38825, Adventure10, and 3 other users
I mean you can't expect the AMC Advantage to go out of their way to try and fare better than random chance. In fact, my guess would be that whoever prepares the actual exams for AMC Advantage does not actually have access to the current year's AIME problems (which, by the way, are prepared two years in advance).

As I read it, the OP is suggesting that someone decided to intentionally put a current AIME problem in the Advantage's mock AIME in order to artificially and systematically inflate the scores of Advantage students. I don't think this claim has much merit to it.
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ksun48
1514 posts
#12 • 4 Y
Y by mentalgenius, Adventure10, and 2 other users
@v_Enhance: I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your point, but it appears to me that AMC Advantage is a program sponsored by the MAA, by looking at the AMC Advantage site and some pages on the AMC website. If this is true, then your argument is not exactly valid, as it assumes that AMC Advantage and the AMC are completely separate, which may not be the case. (If this isn't true, then you can ignore this post).

EDIT: From the AMC Advantage: "The AMC Advantage test courses have been designed and created under the leadership of Dr. Dave Wells who is the chair of the Mathematical Association of America’s Committee on the AMC competitions. AMC Advantage is a joint initiative of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and Edfinity."
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tmathman
2923 posts
#13 • 3 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user
v_Enhance wrote:
This topic is a really perfect example of a bias called prior neglect! Let's explain this in detail.

Suppose I introduce you to my friend Tom and you find out that he's shy. Is he more likely to be a business major or a math major?

As an estimate, let's say 70% of math majors are shy and 10% of business majors are shy. Of course, $70\% \gg 10\%$, so most people would quite naturally assume that Tom is probably a math major. Guess what? Wrong answer!

Why? There are about 20 times more business majors than math majors. If you meet 105 random people, you would find maybe 100 business majors and 5 math majors. Of these, maybe 3-4 of the math majors would be shy; 7 of the business majors would be shy. So in fact, it's about twice as likely that Tom is a business major.

Oops. This is prior neglect -- people tend to forget their initial perceptions after seeing evidence. It is very dangerous because it leads you to wrong conclusions. (Suppose a test is 99% accurate and you test positive for a rare disease which requires immediate treatment. What's the chance you actually have it? Better hope your doctor gets that right.)

Is this "prior neglect" what takes place in the birthday problem?
Birthday Problem wrote:
What is the smallest $n$ such that in a group of $n$ people, the probability that at least one pair of people share the same birthday is greater than $0.50$?

Funny how psychology takes so much effect in math, huh?
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MSTang
6012 posts
#14 • 3 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user
In the birthday problem, the main thing that people fail to understand is that increasing the number of people will increase the probability by gradually larger amounts. They think, "Really? Only 23 people? But this one person among the 23 is very unlikely to share a birthday with somebody else in the group." This is true, but there are other pairs of people in the group not including that one person.

In fact, there are $\dbinom{n}{2} = \dfrac{n(n-1)}{2}$ such pairs; this is a quadratic function, so if we add people gradually, the number of pairs will increase and increase by more each time! Once you hit $23$ people, which is the answer to the problem, there are $\dbinom{23}{2} = 253$ pairs, which is a lot of possible matches!
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happiface
1300 posts
#15 • 3 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user
v_Enhance wrote:
A Really Detailed Post

Well, I'm not sure how you guys do it, but the problems from NIMO/OMO all feature pretty innovative use of techniques--I don't think it would be a longshot to call most NIMO/OMO problems "new." I would expect the MAA to have problem standards at a level just as high as a group of high school students (very creative and devoted ones, but still).
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Fry
2 posts
#16 • 4 Y
Y by Adventure10 and 3 other users
Yeah guys, be thankful that the MAA holds such great contests.. We have all seen reused problems before..
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tmathman
2923 posts
#17 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
I'll put it this way: in the Bulgarian (I think it was Bulgarian? it might have been somewhere else) lottery, the sets of winning numbers came up twice in a row. O.o is it rigged? No, simply a freak event occurred. Actually, for the American Powerball lottery, the same set of numbers is expected to appear every 40-50 years. That's pretty often, a lot more often than people think. Same thing here, except that maybe problems repeat 5-10 years. Back to AIME #12, the repeated question was, yes, a more unlikely than likely event, but still, like the Bulgarian lottery, it could happen. The Bulgarian company was investigated, and no fraud was found. Thus, all this was just an occurrence of what is also called the "Improbability Principle", where the improbable is not so improbable as people think.
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sugar_rush
1341 posts
#18
Y by
CreateAloha wrote:
Nearly verbatim problems that occur within such a short time period? Please.
Oh, it happens. In fact, it happens a lot.
WOOT AIME 3 2011 #2 wrote:
In a convex polygon with 18 sides, the angles are all positive integers (when measured in degrees) and form a nonconstant arithmetic sequence. Find the measure of the smallest angle, in degrees.
AIME II 2011 #3 wrote:
The degree measures of the angles of a convex 18-sided polygon form an increasing arithmetic sequence with integer values. Find the degree measure of the smallest angle.
WOOT Problem of the Day 11/1/2010 wrote:
Choose three random distinct vertices $A$,$B$,$C$ from a regular 123-gon. The probability that triangle $ABC$ is obtuse can be expressed as $\frac{m}{n}$ for relatively prime positive integers m and n. Find m+n.
AIME I 2011 #10 wrote:
The probability that a set of three distinct vertices chosen at random from among the vertices of a regular $n$-gon determine an obtuse triangle is $\frac{93}{125}$. Find the sum of all possible values of $n$.

This too
WOOT AIME 3 2016 #14 wrote:
Find the number of permutations $(a_1, a_2, \dots, a_6)$ of the numbers $(1, 2, \dots, 6)$, with the property that for any integer $k$, $1 \le k \le 5$, $(a_1, a_2, \dots , a_k)$ is not a permutation of the numbers $(1, 2, \dots, k)$.
AIME II 2018 #11 wrote:
Find the number of permutations of $1,2,3,4,5,6$ such that for each $k$ with $1\leq k\leq 5$, at least one of the first $k$ terms of the permutation is greater than $k$.
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programmeruser
2455 posts
#19
Y by
sugar_rush wrote:
CreateAloha wrote:
Nearly verbatim problems that occur within such a short time period? Please.
Oh, it happens. In fact, it happens a lot.
WOOT AIME 3 2011 #2 wrote:
In a convex polygon with 18 sides, the angles are all positive integers (when measured in degrees) and form a nonconstant arithmetic sequence. Find the measure of the smallest angle, in degrees.
AIME II 2011 #3 wrote:
The degree measures of the angles of a convex 18-sided polygon form an increasing arithmetic sequence with integer values. Find the degree measure of the smallest angle.
WOOT Problem of the Day 11/1/2010 wrote:
Choose three random distinct vertices $A$,$B$,$C$ from a regular 123-gon. The probability that triangle $ABC$ is obtuse can be expressed as $\frac{m}{n}$ for relatively prime positive integers m and n. Find m+n.
AIME I 2011 #10 wrote:
The probability that a set of three distinct vertices chosen at random from among the vertices of a regular $n$-gon determine an obtuse triangle is $\frac{93}{125}$. Find the sum of all possible values of $n$.

This too
WOOT AIME 3 2016 #14 wrote:
Find the number of permutations $(a_1, a_2, \dots, a_6)$ of the numbers $(1, 2, \dots, 6)$, with the property that for any integer $k$, $1 \le k \le 5$, $(a_1, a_2, \dots , a_k)$ is not a permutation of the numbers $(1, 2, \dots, k)$.
AIME II 2018 #11 wrote:
Find the number of permutations of $1,2,3,4,5,6$ such that for each $k$ with $1\leq k\leq 5$, at least one of the first $k$ terms of the permutation is greater than $k$.

How did you find this topic
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sugar_rush
1341 posts
#20
Y by
I was doing 2014 AIME II/12 for AIME practice, then I found this thread which was linked on the original topic.
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