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 2009, the competition will take place on Saturday, December 5.
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 2009 the course is taught by Prof. Mess and meets MWF 2:00-2:50 in MS 5148.
- Several preparation sessions, open to all students (whether or not enrolled in Math 100) will take place during the fall
quarter. The schedule for Fall 2009 is here.
- Year round consulting for students who want to learn more about the Putnam competition,
for example study old exam questions. Professors Geoffrey Mess geoff@math.ucla.edu
and Ciprian Manolescu cm@math.ucla.edu
are 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 6, 2009. However, most years there are some 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 2008, the UCLA team was ranked 28th in the nation. Among UCLA students, the best scores were obtained by Zhihong Chen (50 points),
Tristan Miller (38 points), I-an Chen (37 points), and Anton Bobkov (30 points).
The best rank of a UCLA team ever was a third place in 1968/69.
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