SoR Meet 5
When & Where
Meet 5 is scheduled for Monday, 8 February 2021. It will take place online via the Math League online application at scoringmnmathleague.org. The start time is 4:30 pm. The meet is expected to last about an hour and a half.
Topics
Meet 5 topics are in addition to the topics from Meet 1, Meet 2, Meet 3 and Meet 4. Here is a list of the entire year's topics (including those for Meet 5).
Hints from the Problem Writer! New 2/6/2021
We finally come to the last meet of the season. It is usually the toughest meet of the season, so I thought I would offer few hints:
Event A are puzzle problems, often with a variety of ways of solving them. One problem is a base arithmetic problem. Usually, bases are positive integers greater than 1. But what happens if the base is a negative integer?
In Event B, three of the problems deal with the ratio of the areas of two triangles … so brush up on your triangle area formulas.
in Event C, two of the problems deal with selections or combinations while the other two require a unique way of counting.
I would often tell my students, tongue in cheek, that Event D is the easiest event of the year because you know all the problems and how to solve them! All you need to do is study the problems and solutions from last year’s AMC 12A and 12B. You should be able to find them on The Art of Problem Solving web site. Problem 1 is usually taken from problems 1 through 5; Problems 2 and 3 are usually adaptions of problems 6 through 10; and Problem 4 is a variation of a problem numbered 11 through 15. The Team Event contains a problem from 16 through 21. Sometimes it is very easy to pick out which problems could have easy variations (like changing a number) … focus on them!
Finally, the Team Event has at least one problem that could have been included in each of the Individual Events. Three problems come from Event B.
Event A are puzzle problems, often with a variety of ways of solving them. One problem is a base arithmetic problem. Usually, bases are positive integers greater than 1. But what happens if the base is a negative integer?
In Event B, three of the problems deal with the ratio of the areas of two triangles … so brush up on your triangle area formulas.
in Event C, two of the problems deal with selections or combinations while the other two require a unique way of counting.
I would often tell my students, tongue in cheek, that Event D is the easiest event of the year because you know all the problems and how to solve them! All you need to do is study the problems and solutions from last year’s AMC 12A and 12B. You should be able to find them on The Art of Problem Solving web site. Problem 1 is usually taken from problems 1 through 5; Problems 2 and 3 are usually adaptions of problems 6 through 10; and Problem 4 is a variation of a problem numbered 11 through 15. The Team Event contains a problem from 16 through 21. Sometimes it is very easy to pick out which problems could have easy variations (like changing a number) … focus on them!
Finally, the Team Event has at least one problem that could have been included in each of the Individual Events. Three problems come from Event B.
Notes
Event A notes: Puzzles! Get out your best puzzle books, kick back on the couch, and let your mind roam! If you're out of puzzle books, check out previous exams to get an idea.
Event D note: All the notes you need are the 2020 AMC 12A and 2020 AMC 12B exams. The problem writer says that, in theory, this should be the easiest event of the year, since you are actually given the problems (well, something close to these - slight modifications are made). However, in practice, it is often one of the most difficult, because so few students review the two exams! It is the best event to pick up individual power points by solving problems that few others do! The problems and solutions are given on each site: 2020 AMC 12A and 2020 AMC 12B. Alas, you will need to determine the solution - in Math League, the Event D problems are not multiple choice.
Practice Problems and Solutions
Past problems and solutions:
- Meet 5 problems: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/83ofzweabs69eyx/AACoVgegM9qM5SFaUEAWldsza?dl=0
- Meet 5 solutions: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/78ytjjrq3mgh3dv/AACV8_Sb-U-icwPdb2EJV7cka?dl=0