Warning: This is an archived version of an old USAMTS site, and it might not work properly. Please go to the latest version of the site found at https://usamts.org
Participants in the USAMTS must be citizens or residents of the United States. There is no charge for participating in the contest.
Students who wish to participate must register on the USAMTS website and provide an email address to which USAMTS correspondence may be sent. Click here to register. (If you have already registered in a past year, you do not need to register again.)
Solving the Problems
Participants must not discuss the problems with others before the deadline for solution submission.
Participants may use resources such as books or the internet to do mathematical research to try to solve the problems. Participants may not use 'live' online help (e.g., they may not ask for help with the problem on online forums or tutorial services).
Participants are expected to show all work in their solutions. Students may cite (without proof) results from a reputable source, such as a widely-accepted book or peer-reviewed journal, or from a professionally-maintained reference website such as Wolfram MathWorld. For the purposes of the USAMTS, websites without expert oversight of content (such as the Art of Problem Solving forums or Wikipedia) are not citable sources. The USAMTS graders will decide, in their sole judgment, whether a citation is legitimate or not; if in doubt, participants should prove all necessary results.
Except where otherwise noted in problems, participants may use calculators and computers to solve problems. In this case, the participant must explain the program that was used to solve the problem. Symbolic manipulation calculators and mathematical programs such as Mathematica, Maple, Matlab, and Wolfram Alpha are considered programs for this purpose. Therefore, if a key step of a participant's solution uses these tools, the participant must include their inputs and outputs so the graders can verify that the software was used correctly. If a participant writes their own computer program to solve a problem, the source code should be included in the solution along with sufficient supplementary explanation so the grading team can understand what the program is doing.
Participants should strive to submit complete solutions to each problem. Participants should not submit scratch work or conjectures.
USAMTS staff cannot answer any questions about a problem while a round is in progress.
Submitting solutions
Solutions can be submitted by mail or by web upload. Solutions submitted by email or fax will not be accepted.
Solutions submitted after the deadline will not be accepted. (It is OK if solutions are received after the deadline, so long as they are submitted on time.) The deadline is for web submissions is 10 PM Eastern / 7 PM Pacific of the deadline day. Mailed solutions must be postmarked on or before the deadline day.
Participants may only submit one set of solutions for each round. Subsequent submissions (after the first) in any round will be discarded, except in the case of a technical error preventing full receipt of the initial submission.
Grading, Scoring, and Prizes
Solutions will be graded by a group of mathematicians and university mathematics students. Participants can view their scores and commentary by logging on the USAMTS website and visiting the "My USAMTS" page.
Each solution will be given a score of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. Solutions will be graded both on mathematical correctness and on writing style.
The grading criteria for each problem will be published on the USAMTS website at the conclusion of the grading. Students who believe that a clear error has been made in the grading of one of their solutions may file a protest with the USAMTS Director. Follow the instructions on the protest page. Disagreement with the grading criteria is not a valid reason to protest. Late protests will be disregarded.
Prizes will be awarded at the end of the contest year. See the Prizes page for more information.
Miscellaneous
The USAMTS Director reserves the right to make clarifications or modifications to these rules if in the best interest of the contest.
The USAMTS Director may expel any participant from the contest for a gross failure to abide by these rules.
