Syllabus for Mathematical Olympiads

There is no prescribed syllabus for mathematical olympiads. Broadly speaking, students appearing at RMO must be well versed with all the mathematics taught upto Class X level. The major areas from which problems are chosen are Number Theory, Geometry, Algebra and Combinatorics. This includes Arithmetic of Integers, Geometry, Quadratic equations and expressions, Trigonometry, Coordinate Geometry, Systems of linear equations, Permutations and Combinations, Factorization of polynomials, Inequalities, Elementary Combinatorics, Probability Theory and Number Theory, Finite series and Complex numbers, and Elementary Graph Theory. The syllabus does not include Calculus and Statistics.

The problems under each topic are of exceptionally high level in difficulty and sophistication. The difficulty level increases from RMO to INMO to IMO. The book ''An Excursion In Mathematics'' gives a fairly good idea of the background needed to solve these problems. The students should also try the old exams of RMO and INMO. All the problems can be solved without using Calculus or calculators. However these problems are not routine text book problems. They are considerably harder, calling for ingenuity on the part of the solver. Therefore, it is highly advisable that a student solves as many new problems as possible with no or with minimum help. Indeed, if you are unable to solve at least one problem from each old RMO exam without help, RMO is not for you.