Epilogue

Summary

This brief section contains some references to problem-solving material for students on the high school level that either supplements what I have given here or goes beyond the techniques I have described. There is a vast amount of problem-solving material, and if you are seriously interested in this activity you will no doubt find a favorite that I have not included here. These are simply a few of my personal favorites. The goal is not to be inclusive, but simply to provide paths for you to begin your journey.

Many of the books I will list are published by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), which administers the AMC. Any of these can be obtained from the MAA Bookstore. Simply go to the web site

www.maa.org

and search under Problem Solving. They can generally also be purchased from Amazon, whose web address is

www.amazon.com

The first books to consider if you are interested in doing well on the AMC are the various volumes of The Contest Problem Book. These contain all the past AHSME and AMC contests, the published solutions, and often some additional problem-solving information and advice. They have been written by the Contest Directors, so they can provide good insight to the manner in which the contests are constructed.

The next source that I recommend is the Art of Problem Solving, Volumes I and II by Sandor Lehoczky and Richard Rusczyk. These books contain great techniques and insights into problem solving and can be obtained directly from Art of Problem Solving, whose web address is

www.artofproblemsolving.com

You will likely find other items of interest at this site, since the authors are interested in problem solving at many levels.

The MAA has many problem-solving books in addition to the Contest Books. They range from moderately difficult to extremely challenging. For example, if you are interested in sources of problems that have been given at the highest international level, the books by Titu Andreescu and his coauthors contain material that will challenge almost anyone.

If some particular problem-solving topic particularly interests you, there is plenty of material to choose from. Dover Publications, whose web address is

store.doverpublications.com

has many books on problems, puzzles, and logic. The books from Dover are generally very reasonably priced and are often classics, which though old, contain excellent material.