Each month you will be given a set of five problems, and four weeks later we will collect your written solutions. (Please consult the Tentative Weekly Schedule for precise deadlines. Late solutions will be excluded from competition.)
Your solutions will be evaluated by BMC staff. We ask you to write clearly your name, school and city, and to identify the contest number and problem you are solving on top of each of your solution sheets. If you present solutions to more than one problem, it is important that you write the solutions on separate sheets, since different problems will be graded by different people.
It is even more important that your solutions are correct, complete, and clearly written. You should not expect much credit if your proof refers to a false statement, or even if all your statements are true but you forgot to tell us "why?" It is one of the purposes of the Circle to help you improve your "essay-proof" writing style as well as your logical skills.
Please remember that the Contest is individual. Although we strongly encourage cooperation and help among the participants of the Circle, the Monthly Contest will be one exception to this rule: you may consult your notes, books and other published literature, but you may not ask other people to help you. Other than that, the Contest should offer you the joy of problem solving in an atmosphere close to individual scientific research where the pressure of time limitations is reduced to the minimum.
Our intension is to select problems whose solutions will eventually lead you to important pieces of mathematical theory. The more effort you invest into the solutions of your favorite problems, the more you will be able to appreciate the theory behind them. This remains true regardless of whether you manage to complete your own solutions or not. So, you should not give up too easily!
Also, you should be aware that the problems of the Contest may differ not only in subject or style, but also in difficulty. Some of the problems may seem easy to you if you know the lecture material well enough, and some other problems will become easy after sessions yet to come. While one problem can be resolved by a single bright idea, another may require your steady efforts throughout the whole month. So, do not give up too easily!
Each month several winners will be awarded prizes at the Math Circle. At the end of the year, a few grand prizes will be given for highest overall success, and probably for brightest solutions.
The Monthly contest will be coordinated by Alexander Givental, Quan Lam and Gabriel Carroll. Please refer to them for any questions you might have about the contest.
All materials here are copyrighted by Berkeley Math Circle; this includes both problems and solutions. We allow other math circles to use these materials in their own sessions, however, these circles must observe the schedule for the Monthly Contest given below and never discuss these problems before the student solutions will be due in the Berkeley Math Circle. For example, problems from Monthly Contest 2 cannot be discussed in any fashion until November 8th, when the students' solutions are due in the Berkeley Math Circle. Selling or publishing the materials in this or any other section of the website without the explicit permission of Berkeley Math Circle is prohibitted.