The Art of Problem Solving, Volume 1, is a classic problem solving textbook used by many successful aspirants and coaches for premier competitive events such as the MATHCOUNTS programs, the American Mathematics Contest series, and the Math Olympiad Summer Program which trains students for the United States International Math Olympiad team.

Volume 1 is well suited not merely for students just beginning in math contests, but also students seeking to follow an enquiry based and problem-solving approach to learning the foundations of mathematics. MATHCOUNTS and novice high school students particularly have found it invaluable. The emphasis on learning and understanding methods rather than memorizing formulas enables students to solve large classes of problems beyond those presented in the book.

This text contains a treasure trove of over 500 examples and exercises culled from contests such as MATHCOUNTS, the Mandelbrot Competition, the AMC, and ARML.

The instructional material is designed to:

• Encourage student enquiry and exploration through problems
• Efficiently use theoretical narrative to reinforce concepts
• Emphasize powerful problem solving techniques and pattern recognition
• Provide a large repository of problems arranged by complexity

The solutions manual, sold with this bundle, contains complete solutions to all the problems.

Sample Excerpts: Table of Contents - Excerpt 1 - Excerpt 2 - Index

Recommended Age and Grade

This book is suited for use by advanced middle school students, advanced and grade level high school students.

Using the Book

This book may be used as:

• A complete self-study course in basic problem solving
• A teaching aid for classroom instruction as well as tutoring
• Comprehensive home-schooling instructional material
• Preparatory material for middle school math competitive events
• Reference material as a rich source of categorized exercises and challenge problems
• Reference material for the AOPS online course titled "Mathcounts/AMC 8 basics" and "Advanced Mathcounts/AMC 8"

Testimonials

"I have been coaching MATHCOUNTS since its inception...and have been the coach of the Indiana team at the National competition for eleven years...During this time I have purchased many useful materials, but I feel your materials are the best I have used with my students..." - Robert J. Fischer, Indiana MATHCOUNTS coach

"Perhaps the finest book for Math League students that I have ever seen." - J. Bryan Sullivan, ARML coordinator

"Your book meets a great need for students getting into serious math competitions. It's readable, understandable, and comprehensive - a nice bridge into the AIME and the Olympiads. The kids and I love the books." -Joe Holbrook, Academy for the Advancement of Math/Science/Technology

About the Author

Richard Rusczyk is a graduate of Princeton University, a co-author of Art of Problem Solving, Volumes 1 and 2, the author of Art of Problem Solving's Introduction to Geometry, and the founder of www.artofproblemsolving.com. He was a national MATHCOUNTS participant, a USA Math Olympiad winner, and is currently director of the USA Mathematical Talent Search. Over the years, he has coached thousands of young aspiring mathematicians for various competitive events around the world, conducted numerous workshops for parents, students and educators, and advised several foundations and organization on their efforts to support K-12 education.