Irish secondary-school students who are
preparing to compete in the Irish Mathematical Olympiad (held in May each year) or the
International Mathematical Olympiad (held in July each year). It may also be of
interest to others who enjoy mathematics.
The Olympiads are written examinations, based on "second-level
mathematics". There
are significant variations between countries in the content of second-level programmes
in Mathematics. Thus, Irish competitors find themselves faced with problems that require
background knowledge that is not covered in the Senior Cycle programme for our schools.
In order to have a reasonable chance of success, they need to master this material.
There are many problem-collections available,
which students may use to hone their
problem-solving skills.
There are also some good books which provide some background
information in combination with problems and advice on problem-solving.
However, this book is specifically designed to bridge
the gap faced by Irish students between the material normally covered in school and the material
they need to know.
The book has proved useful, and is Logic Press' best-selling title.
It has been used right round Ireland, in all the Olympiad training centres
(UCD, UCC, NUIG, UL as well as NUI, Maynooth), and
also enjoyed sales and positive feedback from mathematicians working with
talented young people in the USA, Australia, New Zealand,
Canada, Britain, France, Spain, India,
Poland, Switzerland, Taiwan, Brazil and Singapore.
James Cruickshank,
Gary McGuire,
Anthony G. O'Farrell,
David Redmond,
Richard Watson
and
David Wraith,
are academic mathematicians, working
at Irish Universities,
who have been engaged for some years as voluntary trainers of prospective
olympiad contestants. The selection of material is based on this
experience.
