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Engage in Successful Flailing

One can often identify to which topic a challenge belongs – this question is about right triangles; this question is about repeating decimals – but still have no clue as to how to start on the challenge. What should you do? Engage in successful flailing!

Think about everything you know about right triangles or repeating decimals. Read the question out loud and then describe it again in different words. Draw a picture, perhaps even one relevant to the problem. Try an example with actual numbers. Mark something on the diagram. And so on.

Read the strategy essay and then explore the Curriculum Burst practice examples from the MAA AMC.

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"Engage in Successful Flailing" Strategy Essay #1 (pdf)

Curriculum Bursts 

A Tricky Length  (pdf) Watch the Video
Hundreds Digit of a Power (pdf) Watch the Video
Point of Contact Triangle (pdf) Watch the Video
Areas in Triangles (pdf) Watch the Video
Maximum Ratio (pdf) Watch the Video
Logarithms and Exponents (pdf) Watch the Video
Painted Cube (pdf) Watch the Video
Non-Congruent Triangles(pdf) Watch the Video
Area in a Polygon (pdf) Watch the Video
Focus and Directrix(pdf) Watch the Video
Sums of Powers of Ten (pdf) Watch the Video
Two Digit Means (pdf) Watch the Video
A Trigonometric Length (pdf) Watch the Video
Filling a Grid (pdf) Watch the Video
A Sneaky Area (pdf) Watch the Video
Logs of Divisors (pdf) Watch the Video
Additional License Plates (pdf) Watch the Video
A Lopsided Pyramid (pdf) Watch the Video
Overlapping Triangles (pdf) Watch the Video
Hypotenuse Please (pdf) Watch the Video
Counting Jelly Beans (pdf) Watch the Video
Abstract Sums (pdf) Watch the Video
Gothic Windows (pdf) Watch the Video
Selecting Committees (pdf) Watch the Video
Unicorns at Play (pdf) Watch the Video
Counting Coins (pdf) Watch the Video
Divisible by 13 (pdf) Watch the Video
Trapezoidal Perimeter (pdf) Watch the Video
Mixed Colors (pdf) Watch the Video
Counting Multiples (pdf) Watch the Video
An Integer Sequence (pdf) Watch the Video
Changing Mean (pdf) Watch the Video
Mowing Lawns (pdf) Watch the Video
All Red Beads (pdf) Watch the Video