United States of America Mathematical Talent Search
| Round: | Date: | Day of the Week: | Problems: |
| 1 | October 3, 2005 | Monday | PDF (66.2 KB) |
| 2 | November 21, 2005 | Monday | |
| 3 | January 9, 2006 | Monday | |
| 4 | March 13, 2006 | Monday |
Summary:
- The test is administered outside of school, and must be downloaded or otherwise accesed online.
- The problems for each round will be posted at least one month prior to the due date; the only time constraint is to send the solutions in by the due date.
- There are 5 proof-based questions per round. Participants are
encouraged to type their solutions using LaTeX.
- LaTeX is a typesetting language that enables flexible typesetting of mathematics (and other text as well).
- Solutions may also be hand written, or submitted in other electronic forms. However, Microsoft Word documents are not permitted
- A LaTeX tutorial is available.
- References are allowed, including websites, calculators, computer programs, etc. However, you may not ask another person for mathematical help in solving the problem. The goal is to encourage research and individual problem solving skills.
- Complete solutions should either be
sent
by e-mail to solutions@usamts.org,
by fax to (619) 445-0112., or by "snail mail" to USAMTS, PO Box 2090 Alpine,
CA 91903-2090.
There is no need to use express mail, registered, next day, certified, etc; we discourage such approaches. Address the envelope correctly, and be sure your return address is on it.
In their own words,
The USA Mathematics Talent Search (USAMTS) is a free mathematics competition open to all United States middle and high school students. The USAMTS is primarily funded by the National Security Agency, which has funded the program since 1992.
As opposed to most mathematics competitions, the USAMTS allows students a full month to work out their solutions. Carefully written justifications are required for each problem. The problems range in difficulty from being within the reach of most high school students to challenging the best students in the nation. Students may use any materials - books, calculators, computers - but all the work must be their own. The USAMTS is run on the honor system - it is an individual competition, whose competitive role is very secondary. (Although we do give prizes.)
Each year the USAMTS consists of four rounds, each round featuring five problems. The problems are published on the USAMTS web site. Each round of problems is published at least four weeks before solutions are due. Students are asked to submit solutions to at least two of the problems each round. They can earn 5 points for the complete, well-written solution of each problem, and hence can accumulate up to 100 points during the school year. Starting with Year 17 (2005-6), each year will feature a special topic. We offer an article (in pdf format) about this year's feature topic, expected value.
Student solutions to the USAMTS problems are graded by mathematicians and comments are returned to the students. Our goal is to help all students develop their problem solving skills, improve their technical writing abilities, and mature mathematically while having fun. We wish to foster not only insight, ingenuity and creativity, but also the virtue of perseverance, which is equally essential in scientific endeavors.
The USAMTS is one of the ways to enter the process of selecting the USA Mathematical Olympiad team, which participates in the International Mathematical Olympiad. The USAMTS score necessary to qualify for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) is set by the American Mathematics Competitions (which run the AIME) and varies from year to year. Students who score well on the USAMTS after the first three rounds are invited to take the AIME, the second step in the process of selecting the USA Mathematical Olympiad Team.
With permission, USAMTS participant's names and addresses are provided to colleges, universities, and employers for recruitment purposes
For more information, visit the USAMTS website.