A version of Larry Guth’s “No Rectangles” problem on the 1988 AJHSME

Got a nice surprise this morning when I saw a version of Larry Guth’s “No Rectangles” problem on the 1988 American Junior High School Math Exam:

Here’s a direct link to the entire exam on Art of Problem Solving’s Site:

The 1988 AJHSME

We’ve talked about a similar problem previously:

Larry Guth’s “No Rectangles” Problem

I used the “No Rectangles” problem as part of the 2nd and 3rd grade Family Math night at my younger son’s elementary school:

Revised Family Math Night for Grades 2 and 3

The kids absolutely loved this problem. It was actually difficult for me to end the evening because the kids kept running up to me showing their various solutions to the “no rectangles” problem on a 4×4 grid.

I’ve also recommended the “no rectangles” problem as part of math that is interesting to professional mathematicians that you can share with kids:

Amazing Math from Mathematicians to share with kids

Sharing Math from Mathematicians with the Common Core

So . . . you can imagine how happy I was to see this problem on an old middle school math test!

Anyway, here’s how my son worked through the problem:

What a nice way to start the day 🙂