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Mark's Handouts

This page lists all the handouts I've written for my classes at the ORMC, arguably the best math circle on this continent. We teach students mathematics far beyond the regular school curriculum, much like AOPS and the BMC.

Update (2026):
I've retired from the circle after five years of leading Advanced 2. If you retired with me, enjoy your time in Switzerland and Canada; and if you're still teaching, make sure Advanced 2 continues to be the best class ORMC has to offer.

To my former students (now current friends), make the most of your time at Berkeley, Yale, UCLA, Stanford. Meet cool people, solve hard problems, and find yourself a place in this world.

You know who you are---I wish you the best. Don't forget to call or text once in a while, I'll always be happy to hear from you.
And be sure to party, I certainly didn't!



For students:
Don't look at solutions we haven't discussed, and never start a handouts before class. That spoils all the fun!

For everyone else:
If you're using any of these, please let me know!
I'd very much like to know where these end up.

Don't hesitate to send an email if you find an error, typo, or a poorly designed section. I no longer write handouts, but I'll continue to maintain this library.

If you're interested in the templates I used to make these, they're are available here. Instructions for both LaTeX and Typst are provided.

All handouts here are licensed CC BY-NC-SA. In short:



Overview & Context

Our classes are two hours long, with a ten-minute break in between. The lessons below are written with this in mind.
I do not expect the average student to finish all problems during this two-hour session. If the class finishes early, the lesson is either too short or too easy.

The sources for all these handouts are available here.
Some are written in LaTeX, some are in Typst.
The latter is vastly superior.



Warm-Ups

Students never show up on time. Some come early, some come late. Warm-ups are my solution to this problem: we hand these out as students walk in, giving them something to do until we can start the lesson.



Advanced

The highest level of the ORMC, and the group I spend most of my time with. Students in ORMC Advanced are in high school, which means they're ~14-18 years old.