PROBLEM OF THE MONTH

 

 

                                                                                                                    

 

 

Welcome to the Problem of the month web page.

 

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the faculty of Science at the University of Ottawa are sponsoring a monthly competition open to Grade 10 and 11 students in Ontario and “secondaire” 3 and 4 in Quebec. The goal is twofold:

1.      Offer to high school students interested in mathematics the chance to work on some challenge problems outside their regular high school math curriculum. 

2.      Introduce high schools students and the general public to the different aspects of mathematics and their use in our daily life.

Terms and conditions:

Ø      A new problem is posted on this web page the first Monday of each month from (October to April). The due date for submitting solutions is the last Friday of the month at 4:00 pm.

Ø      Solutions could be submitted before the due date:

1.      To the Mathematics Office (585 King Edward, room 103)

2.      or electronically at jkhoury@uottawa.ca

3.      or by fax at (613) 562-5776.

Ø      Acceptable electronic formats for submitting solutions are: MSWORDS, PDF, Postscript or DVI. Please include your name, phone number, your email address, as well as your school.

Ø      Please be sure to include with your submission all explanations and methods you used in your solution. 

Ø      Each month, only the first twenty solutions received before the submission due date will be considered for the contest.

Ø      Solutions can be submitted individually or per teams of at most two students.

Ø      Every month, a prize of $50 (respectively $25) is attributed to the author or authors of the first complete solution received (respectively the second received.) If no complete solution is received, only one prize of $25 could be attributed to the first quasi-complete solution received. The prizes will be sent to the math teacher at the school within two weeks of the submission deadline.

Ø      If a team is a winner, the prize will be divided equally between the two teammates. The maximal amount that can be attributed to one participant is $100 for the academic year (September to April).

Ø      Winners of the first and second prizes, together with their schools, will be announced in the “Hall of Fame”.  A permission letter from the parents or legal guardians is required to make the winner name public.

Ø      The solution to each problem will be posted after the due date for submitting solutions.

Sample Problems:

 

PROBLEM

SOLUTION

Sample Problem 1

Solution

Sample Problem 2

Solution

Sample Problem 3

Solution

 

Note that these are just sample problems and do not reflect necessarily the level of difficulty of the actual problems

 


2006 Problems:

 

·      October (Posted on Monday, October 2. To be submitted no later than 4:00 pm on Friday, October 27) Clarified version Added on October 10.

·      November (Posted on Monday, November 6. To be submitted no later than 4:00 pm on Friday, November 24.)

·      December (Posted on Monday, December 4. To be submitted no later than 4:00 pm on Friday, December 22.) part 3 slightly modified on December 5.

 

2006 Solutions:

 

·      October (Posted on Friday, October 27). Go to the “Hall of Fame” section for the names of the winners and their schools.

·      November (Posted on Friday, November 24).

·      December (Posted on Friday, December 22).

 

 

 

2007 Problems:

·      January (There will no problem posted for this month)

·      February (Posted on Monday, February 5. To be submitted no later than 4:00 pm on Friday, February 23.)

·      March (Posted on Monday, March 5. To be submitted no later than 4:00 pm on Friday, March 30.)

·       April (Posted on Monday, April 2. To be submitted no later than 4:00 pm on Friday, April 27.) 

·       October (Posted on Monday, October 1. To be submitted no later than 4:00 pm on Friday, Ocober 26.) 

·       November (Posted on Monday, November 5. To be submitted no later than 4:00 pm on Friday, November 30.) 

·       December (Posted on Monday, December 3. To be submitted no later than 4:00 pm on Friday, December 21.) 

 

 

2007 Solutions:

 

·      February (Posted on Friday, February 23).

·      March (Posted on Monday, April 2).

·      April (Posted on Monday, April 30). 

·      October (Posted on Monday, October 29). 

·      November (Posted on Friday, November 30). 

·      December (Posted on Friday, January 2).

 

 

 

2008 Problems:

·      January (There will no problem posted for this month)

·      February (Posted on Monday, February 4. To be submitted no later than 4:00 pm on Friday, February 29.)

·      March (Posted on Monday, March 3. To be submitted no later than 4:00 pm on Friday, March 28.)

 

 

 

 

 

2008 Solutions:

 

·      February (Posted on Friday, February 28).

 

 

 

Interesting links:

 

 

Humor of the month:

 

Month

September

October

November