Competition for Math in US

The American Mathematics Competitions, a series  of contests  for U.S. middle and  high  school
students. The AMC 8, AMC 10, and AMC 12 contests are multiple-choice tests, which are taken by over
400,000 students every  year. Top scorers on the AMC 10 and  AMC 12 are invited  to take the
American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME), which is a more difficult, short-answer
contest.   Approximately 10,000 students every  year  participate in the AIME. Then, based  on the
results  of the AMC and  AIME contests, about  500 students are invited  to participate in the USA
Mathematical Olympiad  (USAMO), a 2-day, 9-hour  examination in which  each  student must show  all
of his or her work.  Results from  the USAMO are used  to invite a number of students to the Math
Olympiad Summer Program, at which  the U.S. team for the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO)
is chosen.  More information about  the AMC contests  can be found  on the AMC website at www. unl.
edu/amc.

MATHCOUNTS®, the premier contest  for U.S. middle school  students.   MATHCOUNTS is a national 
enrichment, coaching, and  competition program that  promotes middle school  mathe­ matics 
achievement through grassroots involvement in every  U.S. state  and  territory.   President George
 W. Bush and  former  Presidents Clinton,  Bush and  Reagan  have  all recognized MATH­ COUNTS in
White House ceremonies. The MATHCOUNTS program has also received  two White House  citations  as 
an  outstanding private sector  initiative.   More  information is available  at
www.mathcounts.org.

The Mandelbrot Competition, which was founded in 1990 by Sandor  Lehoczky, Richard Rusczyk, and 
Sam  Vandervelde.   The  aim  of the  Mandelbrot Competition is to provide a challenging, engaging
mathematical experience that  is both  competitive and  educational.  Students compete both  as
individuals and  in teams.   The Mandelbrot Competition is offered  at the national  level for more
advanced students and  the regional  level  for less experienced problem  solvers.   More
information can be found  at www. mandelbrot. org.

The Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, which is an annual math tournament for high school
students, held at MIT and at Harvard in alternating years. It is run exclusively by MIT and Harvard
students, most of whom  themselves participated in math contests in high school.  More information
is available  at web. mit. edu/hmmt/.