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Yes High School Math in China is Hard!🧨
Here is the final problem from the 2024 Gao Kao Math Paper
You’ve probably heard that high school math in China is hard.
In this article we will look at the last question on a Gao Kao exam that’s just taken place (June 2024). This exam (New Gao Kao Paper 1) is taken in about half of China, meaning about 5 million students just sat this exam last week!
The last question is hard, of course, but it’s also a very nice problem. The topic is arithmetic sequences. Here is the original Chinese text.
There is quite a bit of reading involved. Below is the English translation. Once we work through, you’ll see that although part 3 is certainly very challenging, there are hints in parts 1 and 2 that can help students solve it.
It does take a while to get your head around it. Feel free to read it again as many times as you like.