Hello. I know this is quite a late post, but I've been busy this summer: as a result of missing school from USAICO and MOP, I've had to complete a lot of work left over from the school year. Also, I just got back from a beach trip to North Carolina, which had to be ended early because of hurricane Earl.
MOP was quite an experience for me, even though it was my second time through. It was completely different this year: being in black MOP, there was much more pressure on me. Even before MOP, I could tell that it would be difficult for me when I struggled to complete my assigned shortlist. My goal at that point was not to get demoted from black MOP.
As a result, when I took the TST, I was especially calm, which was very helpful. I solved five problems, and I was sure to have achieved my goal. Then, Calvin gave me some information which was quite surprising: "Five problems is close to making IMO." Then, Carl told me that he thought that he and I were IMO alternates. So maybe I had a chance of being on the IMO team!
Right before the IMO team was announced, I was completely unable to concentrate on anything. Maybe, I thought, Carl's calculations were wrong and I was actually a 2010 IMO team member. I simply could not wait for the results to be announced. It didn't help that Zuming decided to announce the team members in decreasing order of their TST score, either.
As it turned out, I didn't make the IMO team. I suspect that I was an IMO team alternate, but the alternates were not announced. Still, I'm surprised that I was even able to do that well. This year, I wasn't even expecting to come close to even being a USAMO winner.
Also, I would like to give my (late) congratulations to all the IMO team members, who achieved third place at Kazakhstan this year!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
The USAMO
I took the USAMO on Tuesday and Wednesday. Here is my detailed analysis of each problem. (Note: there are some spoilers here.)
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Mock AIME
Hello everyone. You should try our mock AIME: http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=342368
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
AIME
It seems I got a 12, which means that I'll likely be taking the USAMO this year.
I didn't like this AIME very much though. Here is my analysis:
1: This problem was essentially testing the knowledge of well-known formulas, which #1 should definitely not do.
2, 3, 4: I realize that these are near the beginning of the test, but they are seriously too easy for AIME. All three of them are completely trivial.
5, 6: Nice problems.
7: Also completely trivial, assuming sufficient experience with this kind of stuff.
8: I don't have much to say about this one
9: my favorite problem on this AIME; it actually required some playing around more than just bashing things out.
10: The first one I got wrong. Although this seems to be a mindless bash, there is a nice bijective solution. But it's still possible to mindlessly bash.
11: So horrible... again, a mindless bash.
12: Apparently this is well-known, but I'm not sure. I got this one wrong too.
13: This was so easy to make a mistake on. (luckily, I didn't.) It was also way too easy for a #13.
14: What seems to be the most commonly used method on this problem was guessing and checking. And it's problem 14.
15: I don't know. Apparently this can be solved by guessing $AM = 10$ and verifying that it works.
I didn't like this AIME very much though. Here is my analysis:
1: This problem was essentially testing the knowledge of well-known formulas, which #1 should definitely not do.
2, 3, 4: I realize that these are near the beginning of the test, but they are seriously too easy for AIME. All three of them are completely trivial.
5, 6: Nice problems.
7: Also completely trivial, assuming sufficient experience with this kind of stuff.
8: I don't have much to say about this one
9: my favorite problem on this AIME; it actually required some playing around more than just bashing things out.
10: The first one I got wrong. Although this seems to be a mindless bash, there is a nice bijective solution. But it's still possible to mindlessly bash.
11: So horrible... again, a mindless bash.
12: Apparently this is well-known, but I'm not sure. I got this one wrong too.
13: This was so easy to make a mistake on. (luckily, I didn't.) It was also way too easy for a #13.
14: What seems to be the most commonly used method on this problem was guessing and checking. And it's problem 14.
15: I don't know. Apparently this can be solved by guessing $AM = 10$ and verifying that it works.
Friday, March 12, 2010
APMO
So APMO was last Monday, about a week ago. It was the only real proof-style competition I've done since MOP, so I didn't really know how well it would go, despite the fact that I had done some APMO problems. Regardless, I was happy that I could just sit down and do math.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
LaTeX
I will sometimes post math here. Generally, my math-related posts will consist of a problem that I have solved or created. Sometimes I'll just write about something I find interesting.
Because it gets difficult to write things like \[\frac{a+b^n}{z} = x\] without using typesetting, I thought it best I add LaTeX to this blog. I am currently using the second Google result for "LaTeX on Blogspot," but I will change that if I find something better.
Because it gets difficult to write things like \[\frac{a+b^n}{z} = x\] without using typesetting, I thought it best I add LaTeX to this blog. I am currently using the second Google result for "LaTeX on Blogspot," but I will change that if I find something better.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Hello, Blogspot!
Hello. After constant encouragement, I have created a blog on Blogspot.
You may have noticed that the first thing I did after I created this blog was not to create any actual content, but to create the style sheets. I realize that some people may ask whether style sheets are actually that important. To this I reply: they are. I don't consider myself an expert on website design, but I find that I tend toward blogs which have an unobtrusive color scheme. Also, I want my blog to reach across the entire page rather than a 60% section of it in the middle.
Additionally, this blog is actually a continuation of my blog here, so I actually have written content -- I didn't go straight toward the CSS. But AoPS blogs are currently pretty limited. Also, I have found that my blog runs slowly, so I have decided to move it.
It would be greatly appreciated if you could leave a comment with suggestions about what I should change in my CSS.
Thank you, and goodbye.
You may have noticed that the first thing I did after I created this blog was not to create any actual content, but to create the style sheets. I realize that some people may ask whether style sheets are actually that important. To this I reply: they are. I don't consider myself an expert on website design, but I find that I tend toward blogs which have an unobtrusive color scheme. Also, I want my blog to reach across the entire page rather than a 60% section of it in the middle.
Additionally, this blog is actually a continuation of my blog here, so I actually have written content -- I didn't go straight toward the CSS. But AoPS blogs are currently pretty limited. Also, I have found that my blog runs slowly, so I have decided to move it.
It would be greatly appreciated if you could leave a comment with suggestions about what I should change in my CSS.
Thank you, and goodbye.
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