Selected MO math problems solvable using student programming (Part 1)

Authors

  • Ladislav Perk Faculty of Science, J. E. Purkyně University, Ústí nad Labem

Abstract

This article follows up on the previous post and uses six specific problems from the Mathematical Olympiad (Z6–Z9, C) to demonstrate the use of student programming in Python to find and verify solutions. It systematically formulates algorithms based on complete state space search, divisibility, digit decomposition, and rational expressions, and gradually introduces more advanced constructs (nested loops, while, itertools.product, the is_integer method). The text compares the effectiveness of different programming approaches and offers teachers specific instructions on how to link MO tasks with programming instruction and purposefully develop students' algorithmic thinking in school practice.

Published

2025-11-30

How to Cite

Perk, L. (2025). Selected MO math problems solvable using student programming (Part 1). MATHEMATICS–PHYSICS–INFORMATICS, 34(4), 299–311. Retrieved from https://www.mfi.upol.cz/index.php/mfi/article/view/1036

Issue

Section

Informatics