The William Lowell Putnam Competition is an annual mathematics competition for regularly enrolled undergraduates in colleges or
universities of the United States and Canada, who have not yet received a college degree.
Prizes are awarded to individual participants and institutions.
The Putnam examination tests originality, technical competence and familiarity with the formal theories embodied in undergraduate mathematics. Questions cut across the bounds of various disciplines, and include self-contained questions that do not fit into any of the usual categories. These self-contained questions can involve elementary concepts from group theory, set theory, graph theory, lattice theory, number theory or cardinal arithmetic.
In Fall 2013, the
competition will take place on Saturday, December 7, in MS 6627.
The UCLA Mathematics Department coordinates the UCLA Putnam team and runs
activities such as
- A "Problem solving" course (Math 100) is
offered each fall. This is an excellent
preparation for the Putnam competition. In Fall 2013 the
course is taught by Prof. Manolescu and meets MWF 11:00-11:50.
- An introductory preparation
session,
open to all students (whether or not enrolled in Math 100), will take place on
Monday, September 30, 4-6pm in MS 6229. Also, we will have a
practice
exam on
Monday, October 7, 4-7pm in MS 6229.
- The top scorers on the practice
test are invited to be part of the extended UCLA Putnam team, which
receives intensive weekly preparation (usually Mondays 4-7pm). It is possible
to obtain
course credit for the preparation sessions by signing up for either Math 100
or Math 197.
- Year round consulting for
students who want to learn more about the Putnam competition,
for example study old exam questions. Professor Ciprian
Manolescu cm@math.ucla.edu
is available to help.
- Free pizza for lunch on the day of the competition.
Participation: All enrolled UCLA undergraduate students
which do not have a college degree may participate in the Putnam exam. There is a four time limit for any
participant. Three team members are designated every year
prior to the competition, and their score will contribute to the
UCLA team score. In addition, they
and all the other participants compete for individual scores. The top performing UCLA student (whether a team member or not) will receive the Basil Gordon Prize, valued at $1000.
Reasons to participate: Students taking part in
and preparing for the competition learn a lot about general mathematical
skills such as solving problems and proving statements. Graduate
schools and other employers can be impressed
by high Putnam scores.
Preparation: Check
here for more resources and information about how to prepare for the exam.
Time and Location: The Putnam examination takes place every
year on the first Saturday of December. There are two sessions, a morning session from 8 am to 11 am and an afternoon session from 1 pm to 4 pm. There are 6 problems in the morning session and 6 problems in the afternoon session. Each contestant works independently with no collaboration.
Results of the
competition become known around March of the following year.
Registration:
Participants should register prior to the competition: this year the
registration deadline is October 3, 2012. However, most years there
are spots
available for late registration because some registered students drop out.
Contact: If you want to register, contact Connie Jung ugrad@math.ucla.edu in MS 6356.
Past results:
In 2012, the UCLA team (Xiangyi Huang, Tudor Padurariu, and Dillon Zhi)
was ranked #3 out of 402 institutional teams. This is the best result in
UCLA's history, tied with its performance in 1968. A
total of 4,277 students
from 578 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada participated
in the competition.
Three of our students were ranked in the top 100 nationwide:
- Tudor Padurariu, 66 points (ranked #11);
- Xiangyi Huang, 59 points (ranked #18);
- Francisc Bozgan, 44 points (ranked #83).
Tudor Padurariu and Xiangyi
Huang were awarded prizes from the Putnam
Committee, and Francisc Bozgan was awarded an honorable mention. Tudor also
recieved the Basil Gordon Prize from UCLA.
Other top scorers from UCLA
were: Dillon
Zhi, 39 points (ranked #146.5); Peihao Sun, 31 points (ranked #239); Zhongnan
Li, 30 points (ranked #319.5); Man Cheung Tsui, 30 points (ranked #319.5);
Ufuk Kanat, 25 points (ranked #488.5); Cheng Mao, 23 points (ranked #495.5);
Derek Jung, 22 points (ranked #517.5); Tianyi Zhang, 22 points (ranked
#517.5).
Other recent results:
- 2011: Team rank: 12; Basil Gordon Prize: Tudor Padurariu (43 points,
ranked #40);
- 2010: Team rank: 32; Basil Gordon Prize: Francisc Bozgan (56 points,
ranked #128);
- 2009: Team rank: 58; Basil Gordon Prize: Junchao Zhang (37.2 points);
- 2008: Team rank: 28; Basil Gordon Prize: Zhihong Chen (50 points).
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