I got a 3!!!

[dag12]

I did mathcounts too! Countdown rounds were my favorite back in the day. :3
I did the standard AMC 10/12, AIME, USAMO, and made the IMO selection camp (MOP) back in high school.
Haven't done much math since going to college though.
womp.
The occassional AIME problem for a brain teaser is still fun thoough!

[Reincarnate]

What are you majoring in again dag12? Chemistry, right?

[dag12]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

What are you majoring in again dag12? Chemistry, right?

... and history lol.

I get strange looks when I tell people I'm double majoring in those fields!

[Reincarnate]

Originally Posted by dag12

... and history lol.

I get strange looks when I tell people I'm double majoring in those fields!

Not nearly as weird as one kid from NYU who majored in Evil from Gallatin. XD

[hi19hi19]

Originally Posted by dag12

I did mathcounts too! Countdown rounds were my favorite back in the day. :3
I did the standard AMC 10/12, AIME, USAMO, and made the IMO selection camp (MOP) back in high school.
Haven't done much math since going to college though.
womp.
The occassional AIME problem for a brain teaser is still fun thoough!

lol I'm just jokin' with ya, that's really awesome that you did that well in USAMO!
The concentration required over nearly a whole day to do those long tests is just as impressive as the math skills, at least to me.

Also I used to hate the countdown rounds because I have trouble convincing myself I know the answer until I like, triple-check things.
So glad that they did not count for scoring until you get to the nationals level, or I wouldn't have done nearly as well.

[iironiic]

Countdown rounds were so nerve-wrecking for me hahaha. There was so much pressure in the room xD

[Reincarnate]

[dag12]

I still watch the national countdown round on ESPN (I think?) every year haha. Those kids are INSANELY fast.

Oh, also, for anyone who doesn't know what the countdown round is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathcounts#Countdown_Round
"Two contestants compete face to face in the countdown round. A problem is posted on a projector, and the two contestants race to finish the problem (with pencil and paper). Upon finishing the problem, a contestant is expected to press his/her buzzer. The first person to buzz in with the correct answer gains a point. It is not uncommon for a contestant to press their buzzer before actually solving the problem, in some cases well before solving it, intending to make use of the allotted 3 seconds to finish solving the problem. For obvious reasons, this is a risky strategy."

It's not just some kids counting down from 10 to 0 as quickly as possible or something, despite the name

[Reincarnate]

Originally Posted by dag12

It is not uncommon for a contestant to press their buzzer before actually solving the problem, in some cases well before solving it, intending to make use of the allotted 3 seconds to finish solving the problem. For obvious reasons, this is a risky strategy.

Now that's just awesome

[igotrhythm]

Ah, taking me back to the days of quiz bowl, where answering a question before the mod got to a certain point nabbed bonus points depending on the whim of the guys who organized the event.

[hi19hi19]

In the nationals countdown rounds, some problems the emcee is lucky to say the first word of the problem before someone buzzes in.

I remember the year I was at nationals a guy (who ended up getting 1st) buzzed in literally as the problem went up, kinda stared at the problem for 3 seconds, then said "Oops. I don't know." On national TV.
It was hilarious. Risky strategy indeed.

[Reincarnate]

Originally Posted by hi19hi19

In the nationals countdown rounds, some problems the emcee is lucky to say the first word of the problem before someone buzzes in.

I remember the year I was at nationals a guy (who ended up getting 1st) buzzed in literally as the problem went up, kinda stared at the problem for 3 seconds, then said "Oops. I don't know." On national TV.
It was hilarious. Risky strategy indeed.

Another example (from the wiki):
"It backfired against, among others, David Yang in the finals of the 2009 Countdown round, in which he correctly answered but just outside of the 3-second allotment."

[dag12]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

"It backfired against, among others, David Yang in the finals of the 2009 Countdown round, in which he correctly answered but just outside of the 3-second allotment."

Ugggghhh he is a douche. I was lucky to never run into him because of the age difference, but I saw him when I was proctoring the exam for the state competition.
He kept saying "this is so easy; mathcounts is trivial," making everyone feel bad.
Anyway, that was my rant about him haha. Hopefully he's not on these forums :P

[Reincarnate]

That is indeed rather douchetastic

[hi19hi19]

I remember I used to make practice Mathcounts sprint rounds for our coach. I would either make my own problems entirely, or look at existing problems from old sets, change a few things, and then re-solve it.
If we were focusing on like, combinatorics, I would come up with 30 combinatorics problems then everyone could do them for practice when we met.
I wound up working with my coach to make them, and I learned a lot from doing this, a lot more than simply studying. Making the problems was a challenge, but it was cool.
Wonder if I still have a few of those saved on my old computer.


Always liked producing content more than consuming it...
/makes 500 more stepfiles

[~kitty~]

I would have been able to do these kinds of things, but the way I think about things really limits me. There's a part in the way I think that makes me completely give up at certain things and not even try, and I can never get myself to do it. That happens mostly because of the way I was raised. So basically I have to be taught about it first, then I can start thinking on my own and realize things aren't nearly as hard as I thought it was. Totally what happened for me in Calculus. Same thing for learning languages. Martial arts as well. Oh well. I probably would have got 2 answers right if I were there myself.

[hi19hi19]

Originally Posted by ~kitty~

I would have been able to do these kinds of things, but the way I think about things really limits me. There's a part in the way I think that makes me completely give up at certain things and not even try, and I can never get myself to do it. That happens mostly because of the way I was raised. So basically I have to be taught about it first, then I can start thinking on my own and realize things aren't nearly as hard as I thought it was. Totally what happened for me in Calculus. Same thing for learning languages. Martial arts as well. Oh well. I probably would have got 2 answers right if I were there myself.

If you have identified the problem with your approach to problem solving, don't just accept it. Now you can overcome it!
There's lots of interesting books on not just core concepts of math, but how to think about problems. The Art of Problem Solving is of course the classic example, but once you read through that series there are other books too. Even if you don't plan on doing math at this level, some of the concepts can be fascinating to consider in everyday life. You'd be amazed at how much stuff we do throughout the day boils down to just fulfilling the Pigeonhole Principle

[Wineandbread]

Congrats !!

I think my friend scored a 6 on this when he took it last year? Although he I think he expected to score higher cause he took a seminar on it lololol (iirc he thought he scored in the 30s on the absolute scale)

As much I love fawning over the beauty of mathematics, I wouldn't even dare touching something like the Putnam. I remember being in high school math club and my friend somehow convinced the club director to put me on the A team, except I got carried every single time we competed and I basically didn't do jack shit

PS Concepts of math hard pain class ):

[Reincarnate]

Originally Posted by ~kitty~

I would have been able to do these kinds of things, but the way I think about things really limits me. There's a part in the way I think that makes me completely give up at certain things and not even try, and I can never get myself to do it. That happens mostly because of the way I was raised. So basically I have to be taught about it first, then I can start thinking on my own and realize things aren't nearly as hard as I thought it was. Totally what happened for me in Calculus. Same thing for learning languages. Martial arts as well. Oh well. I probably would have got 2 answers right if I were there myself.

Sounds like a confidence issue to me -- correct me if I'm wrong. Like hi19hi19 said, I'd just do a lot of reading and practice. Some subjects are overwhelming if you look at the big picture and can be really discouraging, but sometimes it's really as simple as, well, starting simple. As you grasp more and more concepts, you'll suddenly find yourself waist-deep in things that you never really thought you'd be capable of before. IMO that's the most exciting thing about learning, and it'll definitely help your confidence and help give you the motivation to not give up.

How were you raised? Not allowed to think about something unless it's taught to you?

[All_That_Chaz]

I think I did mathcounts one year. Is that where they take the top 10 scorers on some test, pin 10 vs. 9, ask them a question, and whoever gets it right first goes against 8, etc? It was a long time ago. I did the third best in my school's group of five and the two guys ahead of me made top 10, and one of them won the whole thing. I've heard of the Putnam test, but I've never tried it. I only just recently took the basic necessary courses like Number Theory and Diff EQ.

Every now and then I wish I went further with math, then I remember that I'm not really that strong of a math guy. I teach math. Whoops.