Tentative Syllabus

Overview:
This course develops creative problem solving skills for middle school students. For instance, consider the following math problems: 
(i) I have 120 blocks. Each block is one of 2 different materials, 3 different colors, 4 different sizes, and 5 different shapes. No two blocks have exactly the same of all four properties. I take two blocks at random. What is the probability the two blocks have exactly two of these four properties the same? (Source: AIME)
(ii) Prove that √2 (square root of 2) is irrational.

In this course, students will practice solving problems such as those listed above. By the end of this course, students should be able to approach challenging problems (using elementary techniques) and write simple proofs.

Instructors:
Professor Isa Hafalir (http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/isaemin/)
Mr. Ahmed Hefny (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ahefny/)
Mr. Rameel Rizvi (http://ri.cmu.edu/person.html?person_id=4563)


Location, Dates, Time:
MCCGP 233 Seaman Ln, Monroeville, PA 15146
Jan 8, 2017 to May 14, 2017
Sunday 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Text & Topics (tentative)
Prealgebra by Richard Rusczyk, David Patrick, Ravi Boppana

Review & Problem-Solving Strategies
Percents
Square Roots
Angles
Perimeter and Area
Right Triangles and Quadrilaterals
Data and Statistics
Counting

Competition Preparation (time permitting):
AMC 8
MATHCOUNTS
Purple Comet