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THE HISTORY OF COMPOSING THE ONE MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD PROBLEM
Abstract
Background: Originality is the main specific feature of mathematical Olympiad problems. Formulating these problems requires a special kind of creativity and only a few people have this ability. They are called problem composers, and Rosen Nikolaev is one of them. H? creates mathematical tasks every day. More than 14 of them have been selected for the The National Student Olympiad in Mathematic and more than 40 for the Bulgarian Mathematical Olympiad. Such specialists are unique, not only because of their special abilities, but also because they cannot share their approach to composing Olympiad problems. Methods: The authors used a case study method. We asked Dr. Nikolaev to retain the way of composing a particular problem and to tell us about it. We formalized the description of this mental process and compared it with instructions for problem composing found in literature. Results: We discovered that problem composing to general mental laws. The problem composer was particularly interested in the transformation of a well-known problem into a new one. He presented his way of thinking as a problem generalisation. However, the author of the problem did not perfectly describe the ideas he had used for this transformation. These ideas make the composing process unique and possible. Conclusions: The history of problem composing presented in this paper is interesting as a sample of thoroughly described way of thinking. A set of such cases provides a basis for studying the author's style of problem creation.
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