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IMO 2024 Problem 1 — “Explain it Like I’m 12”

An Olympiad Algebra problem explained with only 7th Grade Algebra …

Russell Lim
Nice Math Problems
10 min readJul 23, 2024

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The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a math competition for high school students. But these are not just any students, and these are not just any math problems. These are the top 6 students from each country, selected and trained by some of the world’s leading mathematicians to represent their nation on the world stage.

The problems, therefore, need to be difficult enough to challenge and separate these brilliant young problem solvers. The first problem on each day tends to be significantly easier than the other two, but to any normal human being (even to a high school Maths teacher 😉) it’s still a good challenge!

Here is Problem 1 from the 2024 IMO:

source: https://www.imo2024.uk/

The problem statement is short and sweet. I like that! 👍

And the longest sentence at the end (in brackets) is just to explain the concept and notation for the “floor” function, which rounds any real number down to the whole number below it.

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Nice Math Problems
Nice Math Problems

Published in Nice Math Problems

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Russell Lim
Russell Lim

Written by Russell Lim

I teach high school mathematics in Melbourne, Australia. I like thinking about interesting problems and learning new things.

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