Webinars SET B - Grade 9-10 - Sunday@6-7pm EST-Recording Webinar 1

Video Transcription

Video Summary

Phan conducts a webinar series designed to prepare students for Maths Kangaroo exams through 10 focused sessions covering problem-solving strategies, algebra, number theory, combinatorics, logical reasoning, and geometry. The course emphasizes foundational concepts often absent from regular curricula but crucial for success in these contests. Phan highlights that many challenging problems require only elementary math knowledge combined with effective strategies like drawing diagrams, eliminating wrong choices, finding patterns, using parity and symmetry, and considering extreme values.<br /><br />In this session, Phan and assistant Ram engage students with interactive problems. They solve a geometry question using a diagram and the Pythagorean theorem, illustrating the value of visualization. In a combinatorics question involving sequential removal of items, Phan teaches the importance of tackling smaller cases to find patterns rather than confronting large numbers directly.<br /><br />Other problems demonstrate applying arithmetic sequence sums, the triangle inequality adapted to altitudes, graph theory using connection parity, and leveraging symmetry in algebraic systems. Throughout, Phan stresses combining multiple strategies, such as elimination and approximation using extreme values, to simplify complex problems and reduce guesswork.<br /><br />Phan also encourages practicing past exams to identify problem types, understand underlying concepts, and master calculations and arithmetic to solve problems efficiently under time constraints. The webinar recording will be accessible for review. Students are invited to ask questions, reinforcing this interactive, strategy-driven approach to mathematical problem-solving.

Keywords

Maths Kangaroo

problem-solving strategies

algebra

number theory

combinatorics

logical reasoning

geometry

visualization techniques

pattern recognition

exam preparation