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8th Grade 2011-2012 (Archive)

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Math Hour Olympiad

Homework is assigned at the end of every meeting. Usually, there is no time set aside during the Math Circle meetings to work on this homework. Instead, it's expected that each student work at home by himself or herself on the problems.

Each assignment consists of more challenging problems, expanding on what was covered in our meeting. It is not unexpected for a student to spend a couple hours on the content and still not fully complete the homework. And of course, the problems are designed to be fun!

Do not be discouraged if you cannot solve a problem! In fact, we expect everyone to keep a record of their work, including the approaches that turned out not to work. This will be invaluable in really understanding why a specific approach may or may not work.

The first half of the each meeting is spent going over the homework assigned at the end of the last meeting. During this time, a single student presents a solution to his or her peers, and the other students listen to make sure all the logic is sound. We expect a lot of student interaction here! Everyone gets to participate!

Check out our weekly 8th-grade Math Circle newsletter to see what we're up to!

Spring 2012
Winter 2012
Fall 2011

Spring 2012

Homework Assignments

Due Apr. 5 - Introduction to Relations - Omit problem 2
Due Apr. 12 - Interesting Types of Relations
Due Apr. 19 - Geometry of Quotient Sets
Due Apr. 26 - Topology - Surfaces
Due May 3 - Building and Cutting Surfaces
Due May 10 - Modular Arithmetic and Encoding
Due May 17 - Encryption and Ciphers
Due May 31 - Martian Ciphers

In-Class Worksheets

From Mar. 29 - Relations
From Apr. 5 - Equivalence Relations
From Apr. 19 - Explorers of Flatland
From Apr. 26 - Mobius Fun
From May 3 - Modular Battleship
From May 10 - Encryption with Rocky and Bullwinkle

Team Point Totals

Team Name	Points
The Best Team	106
Deductive Induction	125
Insert Your Team Name Here	116
Pascalian Pandas	116

Winter 2012

Homework Assignments

Due Jan. 19 - Automata
Due Feb. 2 - Introduction to Combinatorics
Due Feb. 9 - Bijective Proofs
Due Feb. 16 - Counting in Middle-earth
Due Mar. 1 - Introduction to Invariants
Due Mar. 8 - More Invariants
Due Mar. 15 - Even More Invariants
Due Mar. 22 - Quechua and a Puzzle
Due Mar. 29 - Swahili and Equalities

In-Class Worksheets

From Jan. 12 - Automata
From Jan. 27 - Multiplication and Addition Principles
From Jan. 27 - Combinatorics Practice
From Feb. 2 - Chooses
From Feb. 2 - Bijective Proofs
From Feb. 9 - Catalan Numbers and Pirates
From Feb. 16 - Fibonacci Identities
From Feb. 23 - The Game of Life
From Mar. 1 - Invariants
From Mar. 8 - Invariant Games with Newton and Leibniz
From Mar. 15 - A Few Puzzles
From Mar. 22 - Linguistics

Team Point Totals

Team Name	Points
The Archimedean Armadillos	127
Giant Iron Potatoez	117
The KLRful Cuttlefish	161
LMS	95
Pascal's Triangles	56

Fall 2011

Homework Assignments

Due Oct. 5 - Olympiad Problems
Due Oct. 20 - Sets - Omit problem 3
Due Oct. 27 - Problems 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 from the in-class worksheet
Due Nov. 3 - A Little More Infinity
Due Nov. 10 - Induction
Due Nov. 17 - More Induction
Due Dec. 8 - Formal Grammars

In-Class Worksheets

From Oct. 13 - Intuition with Sets
From Oct. 20 - Hilbert's Hotel
From Nov. 3 - Introduction to Induction
From Nov. 10 - Advanced Induction
From Dec. 1 - Hacking Secret Codes
From Dec. 1 - Generating Secret Codes
From Dec. 8 - Robotic Language

Team Point Totals

Team Name	Points
Darles Chickens	101
The Finite Set	108
The Null Set	140
The Pythagorean Penguins	143
The Random Llamas	120