Books & Articles

Now in its third decade, the Colorado Mathematical Olympiad (CMO), founded by the author, has become an annual state-wide competition, hosting many hundreds of middle and high school contestants each year.

First monograph on van der Waerden's life and work

Builds bridges between Olympiads and “real” mathematics by showing how a solved Olympiad problem gives birth to deeper problems and leads to the forefront of mathematical research

Aims to inspire talented students at various levels and other mathematicians interested in similar problems

Builds bridges between Olympiads and “real” mathematics by showing how a solved Olympiad problem gives birth to deeper problems and leads to the forefront of mathematical research

The etudes presented here are not simply those of Czerny, but are better compared to the etudes of Chopin, not only technically demanding and addressed to a variety of specific skills, but at the same time possessing an exceptional beauty that characterizes the best of art... Keep this book at hand as you plan your next problem solving seminar.

Aims to inspire talented students at various levels and other mathematicians interested in similar problems

Due to the author's correspondence with Van der Waerden, Erdös, Baudet, members of the Schur Circle, and others, and due to voluminous archival materials uncovered by the author over 18 years of his work on the book, this book contains material that has never before been published

-Introduces various elementary techniques for solving problems in algebra, geometry, and combinatorics

Boltyanski and Soifer have titled their monograph aptly, inviting talented students to develop their technique and understanding by grappling with a challenging array of elegant combinatorial problems having a distinct geometric tone. The etudes presented here are not simply those of Czerny, but are better compared to the etudes of Chopin, not only technically demanding and addressed to a variety of specific skills, but at the same time possessing an exceptional beauty that characterizes the best of art . . . Keep this book at hand as you plan your next problem solving seminar.

The book contains a very nice collection of problems of various difficulty. I particularly liked the problems on combinatorics and geometry.

-- PAUL ERDÖS

Alexander Soifer is a wonderful problem solver and inspiring teacher. His book will tell young mathematicians what mathematics should be like, and remind older ones who may be in danger of forgetting. This review has the simple aim of persuading as many people as possible to read it . . .