A Problem from the Toughest Math Contest

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This problem is from the 1998 Putnam Competition, a college level math contest that is famous for its incredibly difficult problems. In this video, we solve problem A2 from this edition of the competition with visual aides in a way that turns a seemingly complex problem into a simple one.

The solution method for this problem was based on a "Proof without Words" titled "A Putnam Area Problem". This proof comes from Volume 2 of the book Proofs Without Words: Exercises in Visual Thinking by Roger B. Nelson.

This video was created using Manim, a popular mathematics animation library for Python.

Works Cited:
Nelsen, Roger B. "Geometry and Algebra." Proofs Without Words II: More Exercises in Visual Thinking, American Mathematical Soc., 2020, p. 30.