Philosophy
Tournament of Towns differs from many other similar competitions by its philosophy relying much more upon ingenuity than the drill. First, problems are difficult (especially in A Level in the Senior division where they are comparable with those at International Mathematical Olympiad but much more ingenious and less technical). Second, it allows to participants to choose problems they like as for each paper the participant's score is the sum of 3 his/her best answers.
The problems are mostly combinatorial, with the occasional geometry, number theory or algebra problem. They have a different flavour to problems seen in other mathematics competitions, and are usually quite challenging. Some of the problems have become classics, in particular two from the Autumn 1984 paper.
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Famous quotes containing the word philosophy:
“If this is philosophy it is at any rate a philosophy that is not in its right mind.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)
“That the world is a divine game and beyond good and evil:Min this the Vedanta philosophy and Heraclitus are my predecessors.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Why does philosophy use concepts and why does faith use symbols if both try to express the same ultimate? The answer, of course, is that the relation to the ultimate is not the same in each case. The philosophical relation is in principle a detached description of the basic structure in which the ultimate manifests itself. The relation of faith is in principle an involved expression of concern about the meaning of the ultimate for the faithful.”
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965)