by makashi » Sat Apr 14, 2007 1:12 pm
It may also pay to familiarize with some general problem solving strategies, such as induction, even though those are usually the ones that are more intuitive. From what I've heard, the CAMC are big fans of, to borrow a phrase from Arnold Ross, thinking deeply of simple things. Consequently, there are problems which can be solved without usually high powered theorems. For example, the first problem last year was simply Pigeonhole principle, but the difficulty was finding the right pigeons and holes. The second problem was monovariance (or extreme principle, whichever you prefer) disguised as an optimization problem. Neither of the solutions cited any theorems. It is my impression that the cutoff for red MOP is related to the number of these problems, as it is usually the youngest, and therefore likely lesser experienced, group. That may be why last year qualifying for red group required solving more than one problem for the first time in a while.