# General Idea

Alcumus is a free, educational system that asks questions from the AoPS staff, books, or external contests. AoPS encourages students to use the system. AoPS generates high-quality solutions for the students to learn and to do similar problems easily.

# Alcumus Subjects

Within each subject there are many topics to set as a Focus Topic to deepen the knowledge of that topic. You can also follow a book from AoPS, use "All Available Topics" or "Let Alcumus Choose a Topic".

You can also get secret honors and quests. They can give you XP, but beware, they can also take away XP. The secret honors are secret and when you get them you most probably won't know why. There are also secret honors which you can get because of performing badly which can take away XP. The quests are missions that must be done in a limited amount of time to earn. There is a log at the bottom left. It shows recent problems you've done, along with you and your friend's achievements, quests, completion/mastery of topics, and level ups. If you click on a problem you've done in the log, you can see its solution again.

# Notations & Rules

AoPS has a special syntax for entering special types of characters in your answers. Examples of common forms of answers are shown below:

To input a fraction, type x/y where x is the numerator and y is the denominator. 5/6

You can also input this fraction with the LaTeX code for fractions: \frac{5}{6}

To input a square root type \sqrt{x} where x is the radicand (that is, the number inside the radical).

You can also type sqrt(x) for a square root.

To input $\pi$ type: \pi

A coordinate pair should be entered as (x,y). For example: (4.2,5.2)

A mixed fraction should only be used when the problem specifically asks for a mixed fraction. These should be entered as X y/z, such as: 5 1/3

Coefficients of variables should be written without the multiplication sign: 3x

Multipliers with square roots should be written without the multiplication sign. For example, write $3\sqrt{5}$ as 3\sqrt{5} Powers should be entered with the caret (^) sign. For example, type x squared as x^2

Scientific notation should be entered as x*10^y. 6.02*10^-23

Occasionally you will encounter multiple choice problems. Simply enter the correct letter for these problems.

Take note of the following for answering problems:

Probabilities, decimal values, and ratios should always be expressed as simplified common fractions unless otherwise specified.

Units of measurement should not be included in your answers. This includes dollar signs.

Do not do any intermediate rounding. Any rounding should be done at the end of the calculation process. (Only round if the problem asks you to round.)