This unique book presents mathematical competition problems primarily
aimed at upper elementary school students, but are challenging for
students at any age. These problems are drawn from the complete papers
of the legendary Leningrad Mathematical Olympiads that were presented to
the city's Grade Five students. The period covered is between 1979 - the
earliest year for which relevant records could be retrieved - and 1992,
when the former Soviet Union was dissolved.
The respective chapters reflect the famous four-step approach to problem
solving developed by the great Hungarian mathematics educator Gyorgy
Pólya. In Chapter One, the Grade Five Competition problems from the
Leningrad Mathematical Olympiads from 1979 to 1992 are presented in
chronological order. In Chapter Two, the 83 problems are loosely divided
into 26 sets of three or four related problems, and an example is
provided for each one. Chapter Three provides full solutions to all
problems, while Chapter Four offers generalizations of the problems.
This book can be used by any mathematically advanced student at the
upper elementary school level. Teachers and organizers of outreach
activities such as mathematical circles will also find this book useful.
But the primary value of the book lies in the problems themselves, which
were crafted by experts; therefore, anyone interested in problem solving
will find this book a welcome addition to their library.