Competative Math: Time for the Putnam

Welcome back to everyone who has been here at Hopkins, and welcome to those who are new. Yes, it is that time of the year again.... to start getting in shape for a little competitive mathematics.

Early December again brings the

William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition,

a locally held, national competition in undergraduate-level mathematics. Highly competitive and highly prestigious, the Putnam offers cash prizes as well as a very strong resume/CV credential to those who master the 6-hour two part exam. In fact, the Math Department recognizes the best from JHU in the exam each year with an award and cash prize. Recent JHU best-performers have included students who achieved recognition from the Putnam Committee. And our best school ranking in the last few years was 21st (out of upwards of 500 institutions that take part).

Registration for the 72nd national Putnam exam closes sometime around mid October, and the exam will be held on Saturday, December 3, from 10am-1pm and 3pm-6pm.

If you are interested in participating (and as a math major, I highly recommend that you consider these exams part of your training as a mathematician), please contact me in any way you can.

We are setting up training sessions for this exam on Wednesday evenings from 5-7pm. We will get a room once we have a head count and start a week from today.

Keep looking here for more announcements and news as the schedule develops.

2010 Putnam training sessions

Hey everyone. For those interested (and I have just contacted many of you who are), the Putnam training sessions will be held on Wednesdays, from 5pm - 7pm in Krieger 304. All are invited to participate, and I believe the format will be an interactive discussion on techniques and strategies for attacking Putnam-type questions using previous exam questions as a guide.

Out very own Duncan Sinclair, a veteran graduate student here, will run the sessions.

Have fun getting in shape (?) for December!

Putnam Training

Ever try playing a competitive sport without a good training regimen already in place and in action for months before the game? Running a fun run without prepping for it for weeks beforehand? Take an exam without paying any attention to the material until the night before?

The Putnam Exam will arrive this December. If you are interested, now is the time to start prepping for it. The Mathematics Department, as well as the Mathematics Club here on campus, provides Putnam Training sessions designed to help you develop strategy and practice, getting you in shape for the "Big Game".

Sessions are currently scheduled for Wednesday evenings from 5pm-to-7pm. The will be run by Duncan Sinclair, an advanced PhD candidate here in our department. Training will focus on questions from old exams and the strategies for attacking them, as well as interactive discussions and scrimmaging. All are invited, whether you will take the exam or not, and all are encouraged to participate actively.

Contact me or Duncan directly (find our email addresses on the Mathematics Department website, or reply in this thread) if you are interested. if you are but cannot make the time slot for the sessions, Duncan will poll the interested group for alternative time slots and/or dates.

On to the games...!

Competitive Math: The Putnam

Welcome back to everyone who has been here at Hopkins, and welcome to those who are new. Yes, it is that time of the year again.... to start getting in shape for a little competitive mathematics.

Early December again brings the

William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition,

a locally held, national competition in undergraduate-level mathematics. Highly competitive and highly prestigious, the Putnam offers cash prizes as well as a very strong resume/CV credential to those who master the 6-hour two part exam. In fact, the Math Department recognizes the best from JHU in the exam each year with an award and cash prize. Recent JHU best-performers have included students who achieved recognition from the Putnam Committee. And our best school ranking in the last few years was 21st (out of upwards of 500 institutions that take part).

Registration for the 69th national Putnam exam closes sometime around mid October, and the exam will be held on Saturday, December 4, from 10am-1pm and 3pm-6pm.

If you are interested in either of these competitions (and as a math major, I highly recommend that you consider these exams part of your training as a mathematician), please contact me in any way you can. We train for this exam during the fall semester, and will be setting up session shortly.

Keep looking here for more announcements and news as the schedule develops.

The Putnam Results!

The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition for 2007 results have just been announced. And we have good news to announce: Two of our participants have received special recognition for their performance. The recognition comes in the form of a set of special categories marking the top performers and based on their ranking given by their overall exam score. Our two top finishers placed in the top 100 out of the 3753 participants of this year's competition:

Kihyuk Hong, a senior, received the title of "Honorable Mention", given to those whose score ranks them between 27.5 and 74, out of the 3753 contestants who participated.

Sunny Kam, a freshman, placed in the next category (oddly titled only category "I"), for rankings between 78 and 94.

These two contestants will have their names published as top performers on this examination in the American Mathematical Monthly in the near future. The results of the exam this year, and the distribution of scores, can be found at the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions website for the Putnam at:

http://www.unl.edu/amc/a-activities/a7-problems/putnamindex.shtml

Also, three registrants can act as a team for the competition. Hopkins was one of the 413 institutions to enter a team, and we placed 22 this year.

Altogether, this was an excellent performance by our students. Congratulations to all who participated.

Putnam Training Sessions, Fall 2007

The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition takes place on December 1 this year.

This note is just a reminder that the Mathematics Department is conducting weekly training and proactice sessions designed for students to prepare for the competition. These session are headed by one of the graduate students here in the Math Department: Hamid Hezari.

The sessions are held on Thursday evenings, from 6pm to 8pm in Krieger 308. Pizza and drinks will be present.

Cheers....

Putnam Results are in...!

Well, Putnam results have been announced. And our two top scorers have been ranked at 140th and 154th, out of a total of 3640 contestants. Congratulations to these two on excellent performances.

If you played the game, and want to know how you did, drop me a line.

Math Club News - Putnam Training

The first workout for next year's Putnam exam in December is tonight, March 5, 7pm in Krieger 308. Bring pencil, paper, and a full stomach for this up-to-a-2-hour session. The topic: The Pigeonhole Principle.

See this post below for more information on these workouts in general, and who to talk to about them.

Putnam Training Sessions

Heard of the Putnam Exam?

Want to try but feel you don't want to enter a race without training? The Mathematics Club here at Hopkins is setting up training sessions to help potential Putnam contestants prepare for the exam.

The first workout is titled "The Pigeonhole Principle": The idea that if you need to put more than n objects into n holes, then at least one hole will have more than one object in it. Simple, eh? This general counting principle sits behind many clever proofs to many simply stated but tricky problems.

The Math Club will be hosting many of these workouts, and will base these on mathematical principles and techniques, rather than grabbing random problems to address.

Talk to the Math Club President, Kihyuk Hong at the JHU email address khong4, for the times, places, future training topics, and indeed anything else pertaining to the Putnam.

Incidentally, the Math Department offers a course in Putnam training every fall. Talk to me if you are interested.