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 The
USA Mathematical Talent Search (USAMTS) is a free mathematics
competition open to all United States middle and high school
students. The USAMTS is primarily funded by the National
Security Agency, which has funded the program
since 1992.
As opposed
to most mathematics competitions, the USAMTS
allows students a full month to work
out their solutions. Carefully
written justifications are required for
each problem. The problems range in difficulty from being
within the reach of most high school students to challenging
the best students in the nation. Students may use any materials
- books, calculators, computers - but all the work must be
their own. The USAMTS is run on the honor system - it is an
individual competition, whose competitive role is very secondary.
(Although we do give prizes.)
Each year
the USAMTS consists of four rounds, each round featuring five
problems. The problems
are published on the USAMTS web site. Each round of problems
is published at least four weeks before solutions are due.
Students are asked to submit solutions to at least two of
the problems each round. They can earn 5 points for the complete,
well-written solution of each problem, and hence can accumulate
up to 100 points during the school year.
Student
solutions to the USAMTS problems are graded by mathematicians
and comments are returned to the students. Our
goal is to help all students develop their problem solving
skills, improve their technical writing abilities, and mature
mathematically while having fun. We wish
to foster not only insight, ingenuity and creativity, but
also the virtue of perseverance, which is equally essential
in scientific endeavors.
The USAMTS
is one of the ways to enter the process of selecting the USA
Mathematical Olympiad team, which participates in the International
Mathematical Olympiad. The USAMTS score necessary to qualify
for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME)
is set by the American
Mathematics Competitions (which run the AIME) and varies
from year to year. Students who score well on the USAMTS after
the first three rounds are invited to take the AIME, the second
step in the process of selecting the USA Mathematical Olympiad
Team.
With permission,
USAMTS participant's names and addresses are provided to colleges,
universities, and employers for recruitment purposes.
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