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Lecture Notes on
Mathematical
Olympiad Courses
For Junior Section Vol. 1

11/4/09 1:57:55 PM

Mathematical Olympiad Series

ISSN: 1793-8570
Series Editors: Lee Peng Yee (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
Xiong Bin (East China Normal University, China)

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Published
Vol. 1

A First Step to Mathematical Olympiad Problems

by Derek Holton (University of Otago, New Zealand)

Vol. 2

Problems of Number Theory in Mathematical Competitions

by Yu Hong-Bing (Suzhou University, China)
translated by Lin Lei (East China Normal University, China)

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Xu Jiagu

Vol. 6

Mathematical
Olympiad
Series

Lecture Notes on
Mathematical
Olympiad Courses
For Junior Section Vol. 1

World Scientific

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Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224
USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601

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UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Mathematical Olympiad Series Vol. 6

LECTURE NOTES ON MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD COURSES
For Junior Section
Copyright 2010 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.

For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright
Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to
photocopy is not required from the publisher.

ISBN-13 978-981-4293-53-2 (pbk) (Set)

ISBN-10 981-4293-53-9
(pbk) (Set)
ISBN-13 978-981-4293-54-9 (pbk) (Vol. 1)
ISBN-10 981-4293-54-7
(pbk) (Vol. 1)
ISBN-13 978-981-4293-55-6 (pbk) (Vol. 2)
ISBN-10 981-4293-55-5
(pbk) (Vol. 2)

Printed in Singapore.

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Preface

Although mathematical olympiad competitions are carried out by solving problems, the system of Mathematical Olympiads and the related training courses cannot involve only the techniques of solving mathematical problems. Strictly speaking, it is a system of mathematical advancing education. To guide students who are
interested in mathematics and have the potential to enter the world of Olympiad
mathematics, so that their mathematical ability can be promoted efficiently and
comprehensively, it is important to improve their mathematical thinking and technical ability in solving mathematical problems.
An excellent student should be able to think flexibly and rigorously. Here the
ability to do formal logic reasoning is an important basic component. However, it
is not the main one. Mathematical thinking also includes other key aspects, like
starting from intuition and entering the essence of the subject, through prediction,
induction, imagination, construction, design and their creative abilities. Moreover,
the ability to convert concrete to the abstract and vice versa is necessary.
Technical ability in solving mathematical problems does not only involve producing accurate and skilled computations and proofs, the standard methods available, but also the more unconventional, creative techniques.
It is clear that the usual syllabus in mathematical educations cannot satisfy
the above requirements, hence the mathematical olympiad training books must be
self-contained basically.
The book is based on the lecture notes used by the editor in the last 15 years for
Olympiad training courses in several schools in Singapore, like Victoria Junior
College, Hwa Chong Institution, Nanyang Girls High School and Dunman High
School. Its scope and depth significantly exceeds that of the usual syllabus, and
introduces many concepts and methods of modern mathematics.
The core of each lecture are the concepts, theories and methods of solving
mathematical problems. Examples are then used to explain and enrich the lectures,
and indicate their applications. And from that, a number of questions are included
for the reader to try. Detailed solutions are provided in the book.
The examples given are not very complicated so that the readers can understand them more easily. However, the practice questions include many from actual
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vi

Preface

competitions which students can use to test themselves. These are taken from a
range of countries, e.g. China, Russia, the USA and Singapore. In particular, there
are many questions from China for those who wish to better understand mathematical Olympiads there. The questions are divided into two parts. Those in Part
A are for students to practise, while those in Part B test students ability to apply
their knowledge in solving real competition questions.
Each volume can be used for training courses of several weeks with a few
hours per week. The test questions are not considered part of the lectures, since
students can complete them on their own.
K. K. Phua

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Acknowledgments

My thanks to Professor Lee Peng Yee for suggesting the publication of this the
book and to Professor Phua Kok Khoo for his strong support. I would also like to
thank my friends, Ang Lai Chiang, Rong Yifei and Gwee Hwee Ngee, lecturers at
HwaChong, Tan Chik Leng at NYGH, and Zhang Ji, the editor at WSPC for her
careful reading of my manuscript, and their helpful suggestions. This book would
be not published today without their efficient assistance.

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Abbreviations and Notations

Abbreviations
AHSME
AIME
APMO
ASUMO
AUSTRALIA
BMO
CHNMO
CHNMOL
CHINA
CMO
HUNGARY
IMO
JAPAN
KIEV
MOSCOW
NORTH EUROPE
RUSMO
SSSMO
SMO
SSSMO(J)
UKJMO
USAMO

American High School Mathematics Examination

American Invitational Mathematics Examination
Asia Pacific Mathematics Olympiad
Olympics Mathematical Competitions of All
the Soviet Union
Australia Mathematical Competitions
British Mathematical Olympiad
China Mathematical Olympiad
China Mathematical Competition for Secondary
Schools
China Mathematical Competitions for Secondary
Schools except for CHNMOL
Canada Mathematical Olympiad
Hungary Mathematical Competition
International Mathematical Olympiad
Japan Mathematical Olympiad
Kiev Mathematical Olympiad
Moscow Mathematical Olympiad
North Europe Mathematical Olympiad
All-Russia Olympics Mathematical Competitions
Singapore Secondary Schools Mathematical Olympiads
Singapore Mathematical Olympiads
Singapore Secondary Schools Mathematical Olympiads
for Junior Section
United Kingdom Junior Mathematical Olympiad
United States of American Mathematical Olympiad
ix

Abbreviations and Notations

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Notations for Numbers, Sets and Logic Relations

N
N0
Z
Z+
Q
Q+
Q+
0
R
[a, b]
(a, b)

AB
AB
AB
AB
aA

the set of positive integers (natural numbers)

the set of non-negative integers
the set of integers
the set of positive integers
the set of rational numbers
the set of positive rational numbers
the set of non-negative rational numbers
the set of real numbers
the closed interval, i.e. all x such that a x b
the open interval, i.e. all x such that a < x < b
iff, if and only if
implies
A is a subset of B
the set formed by all the elements in A but not in B
the union of the sets A and B
the intersection of the sets A and B
the element a belongs to the set A

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Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

vii

Abbreviations and Notations

ix

Operations on Rational Numbers

Monomials and Polynomials

Linear Equations of Single Variable

13

System of Simultaneous Linear Equations

19

Multiplication Formulae

27

Some Methods of Factorization

35

Absolute Value and Its Applications

41

Linear Equations with Absolute Values

47

Sides and Angles of a Triangle

53

10

Pythagoras Theorem and Its Applications

59

11

Congruence of Triangles

65

12

Applications of Midpoint Theorems

71

13

Similarity of Triangles

77

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xii
Contents

14
Areas of Triangles and Applications of Area
85

15
Divisions of Polynomials
93

Solutions to Testing Questions

101

Index
169