Regional Competition

useless · Long-term Member

RE: Regional Competition

Penguinzchaseme · Veteran Member

LOL, I admit I have a small chance. TAMS is allowed to do things like O(CS)^2 and invitational UIL, but not district of course. Ya, anyone can compete in the AMC. If they limited this to public schools, then they would severely limit the talent in the contest. Many great students are private/homeschooled. A&M Consolidated is the leading AMC power in Texas with 3 USAMO qualifiers (Pretty huge accomplishment!).

I wouldn't go as far as saying C++ would make the contest easier. I'm not too sure about UNT, but TCEA problems are definitly geared toward the Java language with problems just asking to be solved with methods that Java does very well compared to C++.

I strongly suggest USACO. And if you're going to look into that, I strongly suggest Intro to Algorithms by CLR. Definitly the leading algorithms book for beginners. If you can master those tequniques, then you'll be well off. I'm excited about UNT this saturday. From the look of last year's problems, they actually look like they involve some more difficult tequniques such as flood-fill and recursion. I loved the problem from last year about the watering holes. It's the first problem I've seen outside of USACO that required any knowledge of basic algorithms. Good Luck!

useless · Long-term Member

USACO? Is that in any way related to the USAMO?

Also, where can I find this CLR book? Is there an e-book available?

Date: Apr 7, 2005

Does tams do uil?

Penguinzchaseme · Veteran Member

TAMS can go to invitationals, but not district because they arent a public school.

USACO is the USA Computing Olympiad
USAMO is the USA Mathematics Olymiad

These are national olympiads leading up to the selection for training camps and eventually the international four-man teams that compete against several other countries.

The six international science olympiads are:

International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)
International Mathemaics Olympiad (IMO)
International Physics Olymipad (IPhO)
International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO)
International Biology Olympiad (IBO)
International Astronomy Olymipad (IAO)

Here is a Amazon link to Intro to Algorithms by CLR:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262032937/102-2473667-6765711

It's pricy for most, but it's well worth it if you want to learn algorithms.

And I highly doubt there is an ebook for free, because then no one would buy the book! But feel free to search

Penguinzchaseme · Veteran Member

Great competition Robby. I think we can safely say Midlothian and Dripping Springs kicked ace. 1st and 2nd written individuals and 1st and 2nd programming teams. And both programming teams were one man (I do have a teammate, but she's mainly just along to get used to the competition right now and observe). However, the results were the complete opposite of what I expected. I was expecting you to win in written, and us to do better in programming. hm....

I have decided that I am the most erratic scorer ever. I got a higher score at UNT than at district, which was an extremely easier test.

It was nice to have good competition though. Our team scores would have been a lot closer together if it wasn't for my teammate to score a 12! Next year I am definitly going solo (no offense to Emily if she's reading this). That would be nice if you could get onto UNT's ACM team as a TAMSter. I heard the contest director talking to you about it.

Was that Intro to Algorithms by CLR that I saw in your insanely large stack of computer science books? If it was, I applaud you.

sharpobject · Star Member

I was also a bit surprised at the results. I thought you would slaughter me at programming and then trail a bit on the test, but apparently not. If we take the scores for just us, we were pretty close. You end up with a 68.4 and I get a 73.6, I think.

From what Mr. Keathly said, I'll probably end up in UNT's team and TAMS' team. I can only hope that I'm accepted, and that the contests don't happen on the same day again.

Yes, I got Introduction to Algorithms, just because a real programmer told me to. On short notice, I had to check it out from a library in North Austin, about an hour away. I find that it explains everything, from the simplest procedures to things that I would never have thought of, in more detailed terms than I've seen anywhere else. It was a bit intimidating at first, because I had simply taken to intuitive analysis, and the book presents the mathematical explanation for the most minute parts of things. The second edition, via infringing e-book, seems to make things more friendly and clear. Thanks for telling me about it.

Congradulations, and I'll see you at state.

nsfrustratesme · Veteran Member

2 more days for me. Does everyone go to regionals at the same time?

sharpobject · Star Member

Yep. This Saturday at UTSA, I'll lose at number sense and math, take first in computer science, and hopefully do well enough on programming to push our team through to state.