This included problems involving sums and multiples, arithmetic sequences, series summation, binary numbers and their applications, divisors and multiples, and averages.
The knowledge points for the second match were largely unchanged from the first, simply using a different set of questions from the question bank.
In this scenario, Medford High and Peterburg High School, during the alternating question-answering segment of the first preliminary round, initially encountered questions that were still not very difficult.
This could be entirely seen as the organizers intentionally providing a warm-up period for the competing teams.
As the first few members of both sides answered questions rapidly, it wasn't long before it was Mike's turn to answer.
"5498, 27679, 948, 3769, 4559..."
The old professor, responsible for asking questions, rattled off eight sets of unordered numbers in a row, then asked, "Please calculate the sum and average of this set of numbers."
Average...
Mike was lucky; problems like finding the sum and average, even within the first round's question bank, were among the simplest types of questions.
One only needed to be proficient in simple addition and division to easily arrive at the answer.
However, facing such a simple question, Mike did not forget his task of misleading the opponents.
He assumed a serious demeanor, picked up the scratch paper and mechanical pencil provided by the organizers for the contestants, and then, comparing the original numbers displayed on the large screen, began his calculation process.
After more than ten seconds, a slight smile appeared on his face, and he loudly stated the correct answer.
Mike, possessing a Level 4 Acting skill, clearly understood the principle of 'too much is as bad as too little'.
Individuals selected for the Math Olympiad team could not be fools, so the persona he was currently portraying was that of an "ordinary" high school student with some talent, but not an excessive amount.
Of course, this level of performance would not fool acquaintances. But for those with ulterior motives and who were unfamiliar with him, it was very misleading.
The reality was just as Mike had expected; Carter, who had been observing the Medford Team members from below, frowned slightly after seeing the answering situation on stage.
Then, he said to the other Marymount Academy team members beside him, "If I'm not mistaken, that guy named Mike in the Medford Team is an eleventh-grade student, right?"
"Yes, he's so handsome, but unfortunately, this is a Math Olympiad competition..." The only female member of the Marymount Math Olympiad team said with an unreadable expression.
This girl was named Caroline; she was an eleventh-grade student at Marymount Academy and the only female member of the team.
Given that females naturally tend to have some differences from males in logical and spatial thinking, and high-level mathematics often requires strong logical thinking and spatial imagination, Caroline could be considered the "weak link" in the Marymount Math Olympiad team after a comprehensive evaluation.
And at this moment, after watching Mike's performance for a round, although the girl's face did not show it clearly, a sense of disdain inevitably arose in her heart.
Along with it, there was also some secret delight.
In short, in her mind, she had already determined that Mike was inferior to her.
Knowing that someone is at the bottom always makes people feel more at ease unconsciously.
This situation is equivalent to saying that the worse a person is in a certain aspect, the more they care.
Of course, while this pecking order can lead to carelessness, it can also cause a surge in self-confidence.
If Caroline could grasp this state, it might not be a bad thing for her.
On the other side, Carter, who was looking for the weak link in the Medford Math Olympiad team, had almost shifted his attention to Cady, the female team member, before this.
However, Mike's first round of answering gave the captain of the Marymount Math Olympiad team a huge "surprise."
Having immediately confirmed Mike's information, he then focused his attention on him.
Evidently, Carter was likely already considering his team's opponent in the upcoming "sudden death match."
In the next few rounds of questions and answers, Mike indeed did not disappoint him.
As the difficulty of the questions increased, the time it took Mike to get the correct answer also grew longer, and the expression on his face became increasingly serious.
Finally, in a logical problem about "cows eating grass," Mike was "stumped."
On a pasture full of green grass, the grass can feed 10 cows for 20 days, or 15 cows for 10 days. If 25 cows are fed, how many days can the grass last?
"Cows eating grass" problems primarily have two types: 1. Finding time. 2. Finding the number of cows.
And this question was precisely about finding time.
As the answering time elapsed, Mike, holding the mechanical pencil, showed some confusion on his face.
With the groundwork laid by the previous few rounds of answering, his current performance easily led people to believe that he had no idea how to approach this question.
His teammates, also in the answering area, aside from Kevin who was thoughtful, Cady and the others couldn't help but wipe their brows for Mike.
Of course, seeing Mike's poor performance, the most agitated person was undoubtedly Ms. Sharon, who had invited him to the Math Olympiad team.
"Don't be nervous... relax, this question isn't difficult..." Ms. Sharon sat below, clenching her fists, quietly encouraging Mike.
She was now even beginning to doubt whether Mike's previously super high performance in Math Olympiad was truly authentic.
However, in the end, Ms. Sharon was still more willing to believe that Mike was just too nervous, which caused him to perform so poorly.
Compared to the nervous Ms. Sharon, Sheldon, who was sitting beside her, had been very calm from the beginning.
Although he didn't know Mike's intentions for doing this, he always believed that this competition posed no difficulty for him at all.
After all, Sheldon could get the answer to this relatively more difficult "cows eating grass" problem in one second.
Similarly, Mike should also be able to answer this question in less than a second.
Meanwhile, on Marymount Academy's side, after seeing Mike's confused expression, Carter was already wondering if he had made a mistake in considering Medford High as an opponent.
Based on Mike's current performance, the Medford High Math Olympiad team might genuinely not make it to the finals.
...However, regardless of what everyone thought, Mike in the Medford answering area on stage still waited a full twenty seconds of the answering time before he suddenly seemed to understand and began calculating the answer to the question.
Ultimately, for such a moderately difficult Math Olympiad question, Mike only called out the correct answer just as the thirty-second answering time was about to expire.
At the same time, many people who had been following the answering situation felt like they had been on a rollercoaster ride, all collectively letting out a sigh of relief.
Concurrently, Mike's barely passing behavior also built some confidence among the members of their opponent, Peterburg High School.
However, before they could rejoice for long, the eleventh-grade member of the Peterburg Math Olympiad team was soon stumped by a moderately difficult "Pigeonhole Principle" question.
This student's reaction was almost identical to Mike's earlier. However, regrettably, he failed to have a flash of inspiration and solve the problem even after the answering time ended.
Therefore, Peterburg High School also lost the opportunity to enter the second round of the competition due to an incorrect question.
"Congratulations to Medford High for qualifying for the semifinals!"
The second match ended, and the old professor, who was hosting, immediately announced the results.
After two more matches, four teams, including Marymount Academy and Medford High, secured their qualifications to enter the afternoon semifinals.
"Mike, what was going on with you earlier? Why did you do that?" During the lunch break, in the event organizer's cafeteria, Ms. Sharon, who couldn't even eat, asked the question that was on her mind.
After a period of calming down, she seemed to have gleaned some other meaning from Mike's unusual behavior.
However, what exactly it was still remained to be investigated.
"Yes, Mike, that wasn't your true level at all earlier..." Cady also didn't believe that Mike would be stumped by a Math Olympiad question.
Seeing their inquisitive expressions, Mike glanced at Kevin, who had made the suggestion, and said, "You'd better explain it to them."
"No problem." The lively Kevin took on the task of explaining the plan to everyone.
To be honest, although the suggestion of pretending to be a novice was first proposed by him, Mike's ability to act out the novice so perfectly still surprised him greatly.
If he hadn't known beforehand, he probably would have been fooled by Mike's superb performance as well.
Subsequently, when he clearly explained to everyone the reason for Mike's poor performance in the previous match, Cady and the others immediately showed expressions of sudden realization.
This situation was more like it.
It could be said that although Mike had not been in the Math Olympiad team for long, his exceptionally high Math Olympiad level still subtly made him the "backbone" of the team.
"The difficulty of the afternoon matches will increase significantly, and I hope you all focus your attention on answering the questions..." Although Ms. Sharon did not fully approve of the unconventional methods in Math Olympiad competitions, she did not say much about Mike and Kevin's actions.
Instead, she used the lunch break to share a lot of her experience from Math Olympiad competitions with the team members.