Thinking can be done in various different ways, and it is worth doing it in every way. We have collected mathematical problems for you, including some questions raised by students. We think that it is exciting and enjoyable to think about these questions, and we hope you will also find some joy in them.
What types of problems will you encounter?
Our Foundation works with students interested in the world of mathematics in various ways. For this month, we have prepared with similar problems to these. There are some which we have already given to some students, but there are also some which were made only for you. We aimed to set the levels of the problems in such a way that most of them are achievable for 13 year-old students. This does not mean that a problem is easy though - there will be some that are especially difficult.
Solving two problems a day and six a week seems like a lot of work. Does it seem realistic that I would have enough time for this?
Six problems a week is a lot, and we know this. It does not seem realistic that you would have enough time to solve two problems each day. But you can choose the problems you find the most interesting and work on those when you have some time. If you don’t like a question you should just leave it. We think it is fantastic even if you have time for only 1 or 2 problems a week.
How can I submit solutions? Why should I submit them?
Our aim is for you to think about the problems and discuss them. There are a lot of you, so unfortunately it is unrealistic for us to be able to discuss the problems with you one-on-one. By submitting the solutions, you can communicate to us that you have solved the problem. If you want to change your solution, you can of course submit a new response.
We will go through your solutions each day, and we plan to react to these in the next day’s newsletter. For example, if some of you share some interesting thoughts with us, we may further discuss those in the newsletter. We are not able to give you individual feedback, but at the end of the project, we will send you a diploma, which we plan to customise based on your submitted solutions.
What is the deadline for submitting your solutions?
You can send us your solutions anytime.
I really like one of the problems. Can I use it myself?
You should use these problems in class, workplace team buildings, family dinners, or wedding quizzes if you wish. We would love to see you further discussing a problem in a video, or any other creative way. If you do this, we would be happy if you could send these to us. If you publicly share some of our problems, please cite the source.
What is commenting for?
You can comment on any post on our website. We are happy if you share your thoughts with each other, and you can talk about your solutions here. If you are stuck on solving a problem, you can ask for help here, we ourselves are happy to answer your questions.
How should you comment?
We think it is very important that you try to understand each other when commenting.
“Don’t you see it? You learn this at the age of 10.” Comments similar to this - even if sent with good intentions - don’t help the eager thinkers. Please understand that you come from very different backgrounds, you may think different things are easy or difficult.
What if I find another, nicer solution? Or a mistake in the official solution?
In either case tell us in the comments, or in an email (alapitvany [AT] agondolkodasorome [DOT] hu). We can make mistakes, and we are happy if you tell us about them. We shall tell you here, that the official solutions may be quite different from what you are used to. They are a bit more like tales, a bit more informal, and sometimes this causes some loss of precision, or that we assume some parts are done by the Reader. Because of this, we hope that important steps are more easily understandable.
I created a problem myself, can I send it to you?
We are happy to read your problems if you send it to our email address (alapitvany [AT] agondolkodasorome [DOT] hu). We cannot guarantee that we will post these problems, but we would be very happy if we could post some problems that you made.
I have seen a problem somewhere else. Is this a coincidence?
Some of our problems we especially made for this project, but there are some that have been used earlier by us, there are even some that were not made by us.
We are sending out the newsletter in Hungarian, the text seen here is the translation of that. If you still have any question, please feel free to share them in a comment.
This year, we will indicate who wrote each solution. This does not mean that they are the original author of the problem; the sources of the problems will be listed separately.
What badges appear on the certificates?
For those who provided us with their names, we will send out a certificate at the end of the project. These certificates also include badges, which are described in more detail here. A maximum of 4–5 badges are included on a certificate—never more than 6. If a participant qualified for more, we selected the ones we felt were the most fitting.
Of course, you’re welcome to continue thinking about the problems. If you’d like a new certificate later, feel free to ask us for one.
Number of Submitted Solutions
Illustrator: Sent a drawing or illustration as part of a solution.
Explained: Included explanations with their answers.
Follow-up Question: Suggested a question related to one of the problems.
Early Bird: Submitted answers in the morning.
Night Owl: Submitted answers in the evening or at night.
Quick Solver: Sent an answer very quickly after the problem was published.
Comeback Kid: Submitted again after skipping a few problems.
5/5 Weeks: Submitted solutions every week.
Weekend: Submitted solutions over the weekend.
May: Submitted solutions during May.
Feedback: Sent feedback or evaluations about the tasks.
These definitions are not strictly precise; for each participant, we chose the badges that we felt suited them best.
