Tag Archives: intuition

Thoughts on a Problem III

Posted on February 8, 2013 by limsup

I saw an interesting problem recently and can’t resist writing it up. The thought process for this problem was exceedingly unusual as you’ll see later. First, here’s the source: But here’s the full problem (rephrased a little) if you’d rather … Continue reading →

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What is Curvature? (I)

Posted on December 14, 2011 by limsup

[ Background required: calculus, specifically differentiation. ] In this post, we will give a little background intuition on the definition of curvature. One possible approach is given in wikipedia, ours is another. Note that this is not IMO-related (my apologies … Continue reading →

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Thoughts on a Problem II

Posted on November 30, 2011 by limsup

The following problem caught my eye: (USAMO 1997 Q3) Prove that for any integer n, there is a unique polynomial Q(X) whose coefficients all lie in the set {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9} and Q(-2) … Continue reading →

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Thoughts on a Problem

Posted on November 8, 2011 by limsup

From time to time, I may post my experience in solving a specific problem including some wrong twists and turns I’ve taken, as well as the motivation for some rather cryptic constructions. Warning : since this post documents my thought … Continue reading →

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