The ARML Power Contest

The ARML (American Regions Math League) Power Contest is truly a unique competition in which a team of students is judged on its ability to discover a pattern, express the pattern in precise mathematical language, and provide a logical proof of its conjectures. Just as a team of students can be self-directed to solve each problem set, a teacher, math team coach, or math circle leader could take these ideas and questions and lead students into problem solving and mathematical discovery. This book contains thirty-seven interesting and engaging problem sets from the ARML Power Contests from 1994 to 2013. They are generally extensions of the high school mathematics classroom and often connect two remote areas of mathematics. Additionally, they provide meaningful problem situations for both the novice and the veteran mathlete. Thomas Kilkelly has been a mathematics teacher for forty-three years. During that time he has been awarded several teaching honors and has coached many math teams to state and national championships. He has always been an advocate for more discovery, integration, and problem solving in the mathematics classroom. In the interest of fostering a greater awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and everyday life, MSRI and the AMS are publishing books in the Mathematical Circles Library series as a service to young people, their parents and teachers, and the mathematics profession.