Tattarrattat
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Posts posted by Tattarrattat
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:grouphug: That's a familiar feeling we've had from time to time since my DS started taking his AoPS courses. Just take a deep breath, you will be fine. Mine is also working on this week's problems right now.
Not sure how your DS usually posts questions. When you ask a question on the message board, it'd be better if you use the message board tab from the class overview page and fill the blank under " Ask a question on message board". This way, not only the board moderators can see the question, but the global moderators can also see it and sometimes provide faster help.
Also, if he needs a study buddy, mine is available:) Or if he checks in the classroom sometimes, there might be already a couple of kids there. My DS and another kid occasionally chat about random math problems and maybe also off topics there in the evenings.
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Hi Ruth, DS did it about a year ago, and I don't remember the details. I think students are expected to read the sections ahead of class. He did some of the textbook problems when time allowed, but definitely not all of them, and I don't think they were expected to do all of them. According to DS, the content was okay in the beginning, but got much harder later on, especially when it was toward the end, his summer activities, camp and family's long visit etc. made it harder to manage. He spent a lot of hours on the harder problems because he didn't skip any, and he usually took his time in working on his homework. He probably spent similar amount of time, if not more, on Algebra 3 compared to Inter NT. At the end, he learned a lot and did very well. According to him, he retains the information well. Now he would rather take two AoPS course simultaneously during the school year than to take one AoPS class that goes into the summer. Let me know if I can help you with any other questions:)
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First of all, I'm not sure if you noticed, but the median of your set is 9.5, not 10. 7, 8, 8, 10, 10, 10, 10, 17 works though.
First, the set must have 2 10s, because it is the unique mode, and median. So the set can be:
a, b, c, 10, 10, d, e, f
We know that, because the mean is 10, that a+b+c+d+e+f=60. Also, f-a=10 because the range is 10. We can substitute f=a+10 too. Notice that if we want f to be maximum, we want a to be close to 10. Also, since we want the closest integers, to maximize a+b+c we need to minimize d+e, so d=e=10. The set now is:
a, b, c, 10, 10, 10, 10, a+10 and we know 2a+b+c=30.
Finally, we want to maximize a, so we minimize b+c. In that case, we would need a=b=c or at least a+1=b=c. The former fails, so we try the latter.Finally, substituting we find 4a=28, so a=7, and our set is 7, 8, 8, 10, 10, 10, 10, 17.
Disclaimer: Kid wrote the above, and didn't want me to look at it.
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Currently this is the only math course he's taking. So I guess he can afford more time on this:)
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Kiddo has spent about 5+ hours so far and done about 4 questions I think, including one of the proofs. I don't believe he will be able to finish his homework at this pace. He also has two other classes for math both with homework and one of them with an equally tight schedule. He has to study for a physics exam and prep for a linguistics competition as well so I have no illusions that he is going to find it easy with this class. I am completely open to him not doing well in this class as long as he does the best he can. I hope he will be okay with it being so hard though. And we have been discussing redoing the class after he finishes the last week just to give him a better grasp at the material the second time around. But you know what? I'm SO happy! I am glad he has this opportunity to work on something really hard for him. :) All his other classes, although requiring effort, are not hard for him at all.
DS also said the same thing about week 2 looking easier. He refuses to ask for help from the forums. I've been gently nudging but am leaving the decision up to him. It's good that you mentioned your DS's experience, T. I will be hopeful that kiddo will learn it's okay to ask when you need to. He's completely fine asking his mentor for help for the other math classes but is not comfortable asking the AoPS folks, I have no idea why.
Does anyone know if the group theory class will be offered at all? I took a look at the upcoming textbook's table of contents and there are a number of topics there that kiddo is currently covering with his mentor and enjoying very much. It will be awesome if he could try the group theory class in 2015 because his current class with his mentor is probably one level easier and it will be good for him to be challenged higher in that area.
So glad for AoPS. Really, really glad. Nothing like a truly tough class to keep you well-grounded. :D
quark, seems your DS has quite a lot on his plate:) My DS feels the same way about AoPS classes being harder than his other classes, including the AP chemistry he's taking. I backed up all his course work at the end of all the AoPS classes he took. This way, he can access to the materials in the future.
As for the group theory class, According to this link, it was scheduled for Fall but got canceled.
T, I forgot to reply about your idea for the kids to work together. Thanks for suggesting it! I will ask kiddo again from time to time. Right now, he's still in doing-it-solo mode. He might change his mind if it continues to be super hard. ;)
By the way, is there info somewhere on how and when the longer response/ proof questions are marked?
Don't worry, whenever he feels comfortable. It took my kid quite a while before he felt comfortable to post. They do offer the option to post anonymously on their message board. The time it takes them to grade the proof problems varies from time to time, depending on the graders' work load. Sometimes it takes less than a week, occasionally it may take longer than that. They will notify you by email once all of them are graded.
DS finished the rest of the problems earlier today. Will see how second week goes.
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So first week is done and the homework took quite a lot of time. 10 hours to do 8 out of 11 questions (he skipped 3 short answers), plus 2 hours to write up the proofs in latex. Is this to be expected?
I'm asking because he is doing this as a summer school course, and I'm not sure he is committed to 12 hours per week, plus I am assuming it is going to get harder and possibly take even more time.
Ruth,
Based on our experience, I think it's normal to spend that much time on weekly homework, maybe even more sometimes when DS got stuck on a problem, and he usually insisted on solving all of them. Over the years, he has learned to seek help on the message board, and occasionally solve together with a couple of classmates using the open classroom. When he first took AoPS classes, he worked on his own. But for the most recent classes, he got better at asking questions.
For the first week's assignment, he spent many hours each day for the past two days working on them, and a little bit on Monday. He's now writing the second proof and has one short answer problem left. We have a busy schedule today, hopefully he will be able to finish them soon.
If they all continue with this class, maybe we can have all three kids(yours, quark's and mine) work together sometimes in the classroom. I think AoPS encourages kids to work together. In the past, if it was a proof problem, my son usually wrote a note at the end saying he had worked with his classmates on this problem (or his mom when I helped him a couple of times).
I understand that 10 hours and more a week in summer on one course seems quite a lot. We now try to avoid taking AoPS classes in summer because DS prefers some free time during the break. It'd be nice though, if all three kids take the class together:) I asked DS if he wanted to continue, it seems he wants to continue, at least for now. He took a peek at next two weeks' assignments, and said they didn't look harder(actually might be a little easier). It was only a glance, he might find it much harder later on:) I think the difficulty level depends on the specific topics, not necessarily on the order of the topics.
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What did he think about it? Ds told me it was hard.
I asked him, and he said they taught something that he had learned before but had barely used, in more depth. He said it makes him work hard.
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Are there colored bars for participation level? I learn something new about AoPS ALL the time lol.
Yes, it's the same as homework. Red for missed class, then I think yellow, green and blue depending on the participation level. Some teachers tend to include more kids and post more answers to the same question, some not.
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DS was there as well :huh:
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If you have a binding machine for homeschool use, maybe consider the option to make your own graph notebook with the grid size you like. I occasionally used Excel to make some loose graph paper before, though I never bound them into a notebook. Just need to test the line color when you print to make it light enough for background use.
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Have you compared Spectrum labs with what ChemAdvantage uses?
http://chemadvantage.com/public_site/ap_chemistry/ap_lab_kit.html
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:thumbup: Yay! Congratulations! :thumbup:
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Quark, what an accomplishment! Congrats!
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Beautifully played! Thanks for sharing Ruth!
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Mandelbrot has National level and Regional level problems with some overlap between the two. Hard ones on regional would be easy ones on national.
Edit:
In addition to the sample problems on Mandelbrot website, AoPS(or Amazon) sells some of the Mandelbrot books with past problems and detailed solutions.
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Now that I'm thinking about this, I've come up with a few ideas...but I'm still stuck on rec's. What do homeschoolers do about this? DS has no classes outside the home besides piano and trumpet, and I'm pretty sure they said they don't care about artistic stuff. Other activities aren't places you "show" your giftedness: sports, religion, scouts...and it would be awkward to ask a friend for a recommendation. They teach most of his outside the home activities!
Recommendations from musict teacher/sport coach should just be fine.
Congratulations to both of you on the kids' excellent scores!
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My DS took AoPS geometry class and learned a lot. He also read through LoF geometry book, but only as extra fun reading (He did think through the math part if needed). He thought LoF was much easier than AoPS. We love LoF books here, but I wouldn't think they're nearly as challenging as AoPS.
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DS used AoPS books and took their courses including their AMC 10 prep course, but didn't feel the latter as helpful as regular ones. Taking AIME for the first time with other kids made him happy enough! He still has a long way to go.
One other good self-study idea for kids who are just below AIME level is the book First Steps for Math Olympians. It's set up as a textbook with each of 18 chapters concentrating on a single topic. Each chapter has a lesson, solved problems, and an AMC-like exercise set with solutions (explained in detail).Kathy, as always, thank you for your recommendation! My purse is getting skinnier though :)
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The kids at AoPS started posting. Maybe it's safe for the parents here to discuss now:) No official answers yet on maa website.
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Maybe when MAA posts the answers or when AoPS forum is unlocked. My guess is around noon ET :)
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Such a wonderful opportunity! Happy for you and your DS!
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Have you seen AoPS wiki on olympiad resources? Even if he doesn't have time for any more books, it might be helpful for future use:
http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Wiki/index.php/Olympiad_books
ChemAdvantage - one more question. :)
in High School and Self-Education Board
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