Customer Reviews

First Steps for Math Olympians: Using the American Mathematics Competitions (Problem Books) (MAA Problem Book Series)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book just two weeks before the American Mathematics Contests this year as a freshman. I had never heard of these contests, but reading this book gave me everything I need to know! With its help, I qualified for the AIME (though missed the USA math olympiad by 1 question!). If you are into math contests, trust me, this will significantly raise your score.

This book is a great book. This book starts at the beginning (in this case proportions) in very easy format to follow and easy to understand. As they come with practice AMC 10 and 12 problems they will hone your understanding of the material. This book is great for beginners a great companionship for those who have Art of Problem Solving by Richard Ruscyzk.

top marks!

For two years, I was the primary organizer of having the American Mathematics Competition (AMC) exams on campus and found the students taking the tests to be enthusiastic and eager to do well. Mathematics is like any other human skill in that it can and must be practiced if you expect to succeed. The mathematical background used to create the AMC tests is well known and Faires has a great deal of experience with the testing structure.
This book contains a series of chapters of background material for the AMC exams. Each chapter has a brief introduction to a topic with explanations of the basic definitions, theorems and their consequences. This is followed by a small set of worked examples and then exercises with solutions. These exercises are presented in the format of the AMC questions and most of them are from earlier exams.
The chapter topics are:

*) Arithmetic ratios
*) Polynomials and their zeros
*) Exponentials and radicals
*) Defined functions and operations
*) Triangle geometry
*) Circle geometry
*) Polygons
*) Counting
*) Probability
*) Prime decomposition
*) Number theory
*) Sequences and series
*) Statistics
*) Trigonometry
*) Three-dimensional geometry
*) Functions
*) Logarithms
*) Complex numbers

With material taken directly from years of AMC exams, this book is the best place for team coaches to extract study material for their team.

This is a good source to start a serious training for mathematical competitions, but as it says, it gives you the first step. Should be enough for those who just look to improve their AMC scores significantly, but not so useful for those thinking or wanting to participate on IMO, APMO or similar competition.

For the level it has, I feel it is somewhat overpriced, but besides that, it's a good book.

I bought this book after I read reviews here.
It was OK.
No doubt, it provides a short, sweet review of major topics in algebra, trigonometry, probability, and combinatorics. Yet I felt that the book could be better. For example, it would be nice to make it thicker, fill it with more puzzles, and add challenging problems. In present condition, it glides over the surface without intention to dive deeper. It should be recommended to middle school students.

But, I can be wrong. You see, I am a college student who decided to review high school material to prepare for Math Olympics. Honestly, Barron's SAT review books helped me to accomplish this task much better than First Steps for Math Olympians. It might help you, too.

Get it anyway if money is not an issue. This book is an easy read. It might give you a different perspective on familiar topics.

It's a great book, covering everything needed for the higher level AMC competitions.

Fancy being a math olympian? This book could serve as your very entrance leading to your success. Just read it page after page and you'll not regret buying it, or being bought by some uncles or aunties. After all, Thanksgiving Day's coming. Who wouldn't buy their little ones some meaningful gift?