Competition Format

The Seattle Infinity Math Competition will consist of three rounds: Individual, Team, and Puzzle. All three rounds will count towards the team score, while only the Individual round will count towards an individual score. While the test will be difficult and we do not expect students to solve every problem, the test will generally avoid problems requiring knowledge beyond the middle school level (i.e. logarithms, trigonometry). 

Here is the schedule for the 2010 competition on October 16th, 2010-- Thank you to everyone who participated!

12:00pm    Registration starts

12:40-1:30 Individual Test

1:30-1:40   Break

1:40-2:20   Team round

2:20-2:30   Break

2:30-3:10   Puzzle round

3:20-4:00   Closing ceremony

Individual Round
The Individual round will consist of 30 questions, ranging from easy to hard, over 40 minutes. The first 15 questions will be worth 2 points each and the second 15 questions will be worth 3 points each, for a maximum of 75 points.

Team Round
The Team round will consist of 16 problems, ranging from easy to hard, over 40 minutes. Students may work together with their teams for this round. The first 8 questions will be worth 10 points each and the second 8 questions will be worth 15 points each, for a maximum of 200 points.

Puzzle Round
The Puzzle round will consist of 5 very difficult problems over 40 minutes. Students may work together with their teams for this round. Each question will be worth 20 points, for a maximum of 100 points.

Scoring

There is no "guessing penalty" for wrong answers on any of these rounds.

An individual's score will be his score on the individual round. Tiebreaking will occur in the following order:

• The number of questions answered correctly in the second half.

• Comparison question by question starting from the last question and moving backwards (#30, #29, ...)

A team's score is the sum of the scores of all the individual scores, its team round, and its puzzle round, for a maximum of 600 points. Tiebreaking will occur in the following order:

• Points garnered from the puzzle round.

• Comparison question by question starting from the last question and moving backwards on the Puzzle round

• Points garnered from the team round

• Comparison question by question starting from the last question and moving backwards

• Points garnered from the individual round

Competition Rules

Forming Teams
Teams may consist of up to four students, preferably from the same school. (If you are unable to find enough students from your school to form a full team, please e-mail us and we will try our best to match you with other students to form full teams.) Students may either register as a part of a team or as an individual. The registration cost is $30 per team and $10 per individual. Please bring a check the day of the competition to cover the registration fee. The check should be made out to the Art of Problem Solving Foundation with Seattle Infinity Math Circle in the "for" line. You can register here.

Calculators and Other Aids
Students may use pencils, pens, scratch paper, graph paper, rulers, compasses, and protractors during all rounds of the competition. Calculators (also, slide rules and abbaci) may not be used during any part of the competition.

Answer Forms

• Units do not need to be included with answer; however, if included, they must be correct.  Answers must be given in the units specified by the problem.
  
• Answers need to be simplified and exact unless otherwise specified. (So 3.14 will not work for pi, nor will 4/12 instead of 1/3.)

• No partial credit will be given unless specified otherwise.

• Fractions should be simplified and improper. (13/4, not 26/8 or 3 1/4)

• Radicals should be simplified so that the radicand does not contain any fractions nor be divisible by the square of any integer greater than one. Denominators should be rationalized.

• Correct mathematical notation should be used.