In a typical SASMO geometry problem, the diagram hides a secret. That secret is symmetry. The moment you spot a line of reflection, a point of rotation, or a pattern that repeats, the problem transfor…
One look at a SASMO geometry problem and your brain might freeze. Lines crisscross, angles hide, and the diagram looks like abstract art. But there is a method that cuts through the chaos. It is calle…
Counting problems show up in nearly every SASMO paper. They ask you to find how many ways something can happen. Often students try to list every possibility by hand, which takes too long and leads to …
If you have ever stared at a prime number problem during a math contest and felt a little lost, you are not alone. Primes seem simple on the surface – just a number divisible only by 1 and itself – bu…
Venn diagrams are a staple on the SASMO paper. They look simple at first glance two circles, maybe three, some numbers inside. But the SASMO team has a talent for twisting these diagrams into puzzles …
You are sitting in the SASMO exam hall, staring at a problem that asks for the remainder when a huge number is divided by 7. You could try long division, but the number has 50 digits. Your heart sinks…
Some SASMO problems look like magic tricks: the answer seems impossible to reach, until you realize something never changes. That unchanging something is called an invariant. It is a secret key that u…
Functions and graphs aren’t just another topic to check off your list. They are the backbone of many SASMO problems, appearing in everything from pattern recognition to speed, distance, and time quest…
You are staring at a SASMO problem that gives almost no numbers. It asks: “In a group of 13 people, can you guarantee that at least two of them were born in the same month?” Your instinct says maybe, …
Getting the hang of inequalities is one of the smartest moves you can make for the SASMO math competition. These problems pop up in number sense questions, algebra sections, geometry limit puzzles, an…