Editors' Preface

Summary

The editors of the New Mathematical Library, wishing to encourage significant problem solving at an elementary level, have published a variety of problem collections. In addition to the Annual High School Mathematics Examinations (NML vols. 5, 17, 25 and 29) described in detail in the Preface on the preceding pages, the NML series contains translations of the Hungarian Eötvös Competitions through 1928 (NML vols. 11 and 12) and the International Mathematical Olympiads (NML vol. 27). Both are essay type competitions containing only a few questions which often require ingenious solutions.

The present volume is a sequel to NML vol. 25 published at the request of the many readers who enjoyed the previous Contest Problem Books.

The Mathematical Association of America, publisher of the NML series, is concerned primarily with mathematics at the undergraduate level in colleges and universities. It conducts the annual Putnam Competitions for undergraduate students. All three journals of the MAA, the American Mathematical Monthly, Mathematics Magazine and the Two Year College Mathematics Journal, have sections devoted to problems and their solutions.

The editors of the New Mathematical Library are pleased to acknowledge the essential contributions of R. A. Artino, A. M. Gaglione and N. Shell, the three men who compiled and wrote solutions for the problems in the present volume. The hard work of Stephen B. Maurer, current chairman of the MAA Committee on High School Contests, and that of other Committee members in the final editing of this collection is greatly appreciated.