Math Olympiad Contest Problems for Elementary and Middle Schools, Vol. 1

Read: 5/12 Rate: 5/5 6/12: Math Olympiad Contest Problems for Elementary and Middle Schools, Vol. 1 is an amazing compilation of problems: many of them not really too challenging but very thoughtful. I've used the problems on my students at high school level despite the intended audience because many of my students couldn't do these problems since they required three points of mastery: reading comprehension, usage of proper techniques, and translation of English words to mathematical statements. Now, they can do it, which is nice to see, thanks to the book. Performing word problems is the consummate skill in mathematics next to doing proofs, and it's the hallmark of a mathematics education. That's why I took advantage of the book for what it set out to accomplish: to educate and to show how to solve word problems. The problems contained in the book are all well done, and even better, the author goes one step further by furnishing complete fully worked out solutions at the back of the book. Two chief complaints I have with the book are as follows. One, I've found some certain classifications of problems to be fairly repetitive throughout the book, and I would have liken to see a bit more variety, a new type of a classification or two. Two, although I see the worked out solutions, there are actually more ways of arriving at the same solutions using by simple techniques yet the author decided to take the complicated route without mentioning easier paths. It would have been nice just to see such techniques for the sake of simplicity. One big bonus of the book is the Number Theory notes; extremely useful in the advanced stages of mathematics competitions. All in all, Math Olympiad Contest Problems for Elementary and Middle Schools, Vol. 1 is a masterpiece that people of all ages should automatically find it a fun book to have. Check out my YouTube videos of similar problems to the book by googling "Mr. Math Expert Math Olympiad Contest Problems for Elementary and Middle Schools" and "Mr. Math Expert Math League" for more practice.

I bought these so that my son can practice elementary school math olympiad problems (he is in 4th grade). This book has 80 olympiads, 5 problems each for a total of 400 problems. In the back of the book there is a section with hints for each problem. This section does not tell you how to solve the problem, but gives one or two suggestions to get you pointed in the right direction. Following this is a section with actual solutions (in case hints did not work and also so that you can check the answers). The solution section not only gives the answer, but also explains how to solve the problem. This book does not correspond to any particular grade level, so some of the problems may require knowledge that your child has not yet covered in school, so in those cases you may have to explain the concept first (e.g. what is an average). This book is good for children who want extra practice to prepare for math olympiad or just for children who find regular math curriculum easy or boring and need an extra challenge. It is not, however, a substitute for regular math instruction.

Got it for my son who is in 4th grade. This book is REALLY awesome. I was looking for resources to get my son *think* hard in different dimensions, something beyond just the technique of how to do things. The questions in this book are math puzzles. They sometimes require logic, knowledge, techniques, tricks, guess work, intuition - all the things in your arsenal. I am very pleased that these are way different from the regular textbook problems. Of course many of the problems are not easy for a 4th or 5th grader, specially when starting. Those that require linear equations to solve, for example, are middle school level. Probably an 8th grader will be able to crack these fairly easily. I am happy that this book gives my son 400 "tough" problems that will make him use all his math prowess. He has been exposed to higher math concepts. We are two months into this book, still in the teen quizzes. Had to take a diversion to introduce equations, number series and other concepts. He has progressed quite a bit from staring at me blank to finding ways to solve a problem. He still requires help and hints in many of the questions, but he is not afraid of how tough they are and thats a huge win. I don't understand the negative reviews about the book, I found no problem with the content or paper quality whatsoever. ---- Edit: It has been more than a year since I bought this book. My son has solved all the olympiads in the book. What a ride it has been! He rarely did all 5 on a page all correct, without help. He would get 3 correct, and would take a couple of days for the next two if not helped. Sometimes he would lose interest and had to be persuaded back. But persistence paid off and something clicked around chapter 60. Since then, he got several 5/5 right mostly in less than 45 mins for a chapter! I am posting this not to boast (well a little yeah), but mostly to say that my son has learned to not fear tough problems and to give it all he has to solving a problem. Often times, he has found amazing solutions for problems whose concepts he has not been introduced to; creative solution that I didn't think of because I "know" the right way- be it linear equations or number series or area models. Thats HUGE for me. My son is super charged to go over the book once again. And I can't wait to get hold of other books in this series.

This is a wonderful book for kids who are interested in math. The problems are written using simple language that can be assessed by children. The book contains answers, hints and solutions that allow one to record child’s progress and trace the difficulties that he or she might experience. It can be used by both teachers and parents.

Math Olympiads is a thing that I was part of back when I was a student in NY. Now that I moved to Florida, I havent seen it in any of the schools I have worked at and being a gifted teacher, my students needed to be challenged. This is definitely not "busy work" when it comes to gifted students, it really gets them to think. I used this in small group with my gifted and high achieving kids and they LOVED trying to figure out problems. I never held them to the time they should be completing it in, I just would have them figure out the problem with the group they were working with and it really helped to promote my gifted kids social skills.

What I liked about this book is that the math questions are quite different from the kind of questions my 6th grade daughter gets at school. At school, she learns a concept or operation (e.g., Least Common Multiple), is given examples, and then problems to solve. That's fine, and it has its place in learning - however, I find that she hasn't fully grasped the full concept and how to apply it in situations where its use is less obvious. That's what is neat about the problems in this book - you cannot simply characterize a problem as a particular type, which if you follow steps 1 to 5, you will get the answer. You are really expected to approach each problem fresh, understand all the facts and data given, and then think of how one could solve it. Would recommend this book (and books like this) to push kids to think more creatively about problem solving as well as to reinforce concepts learnt at school. In terms of what would be the appropriate age / grade level for this book, I think it would vary a lot by the individual child. We're about 5 exercises in, and my daughter is averaging about 3 out of 5.

If you have a child who thinks that math is easy and not challenging, this book is a "must have". The problems are fun and non-standard. They require thinking and understanding of the material. All the problems and ways to solve them are explained in the book. If you are not as brilliant as your child, you can show that you are by preparing ahead :-). This is the only book that I found on the market so far that is advanced and fun, and requires thinking out of the box.

This is the best book for Math Olympiad. It has very simple explanation for each problem.