Re: Training problem-solving for coding and math olympiads

USSR math Olympiad problems are extremely tough problems. If you are a professor and can solve them after a couple of hours you have done well.

On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 10:46 PM, arrested development <senzergking@yahoo.com> wrote:

I don't know how long your preparing for but what kind of imo books
are you preparing with? I recommend looking for the most challenging
problems as you can find and trying to solve each problem multiple
ways. Really turning them inside out, upside down, and finding as many
little tricks  you can that you can apply to other problems. Here are
three problem books that are pretty good: USSR math olympiad [sic],
Mathematical Olympiad Challenges, and Putnam and Beyond.

The best problem solving book I've found is: Problem Solving through
problems. I even prefer it over G.Polya's classic.

On May 24, 3:00 pm, Darius Malik <malikdari...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Lately I've resolved to try harder at teaching myself math and
> algorithm-coding so I have a better shot at the international
> olympiads for math and programming (IMO and IOI). These basically
> involve getting, say, three really hard math or programming problems
> and trying your best to solve them within 5 hours.
>
> What recommendations do you guys have for improving problem-solving
> ability, in general and specifically for olympiad-type environments?
> How should I practise math and CS, and what other stuff should I do?
> Right now my day consists of:
> - school (6 hours)
> - Anki reps (10-100 minutes)
> - n-back (20 sessions; I do position-color 8-back)
> - Learning math and coding
> - cycling (~ 1 hour 3 times a week)
> - weight-training (~20 minutes daily)
> I've also been experimenting with cycling caffeine, weekends on,
> weekdays off; this seems to work really well - I can do more work at
> home and less work at school. IOW, I am most productive exactly when
> it matters most :)
> Since I'm vegetarian, I've also taken Jonathan's advice and am cycling
> creatine.
>
> Also, what is the best sort of training I can do at school? In South
> Africa there are no honors classes, so I can basically pay literally
> no attention and still get acceptable marks. I've been trying mental
> arithmetic, writing shorthand (look up 'Gregg shorthand' on
> wikipedia), writing with my non-dominant hand, and trying to solve
> hard math problems (or just exploring math, for instance, for which n
> is 1!+2!+...+n! a square, or a cube, etc.). Bonus points if I can do
> the exercise while looking like I am blankly staring off into space.
>
> Thanks in advance :)

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