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Putnam Competition
Are you an SFU Undergrad who relishes a challenge?
The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition is held on the first Saturday of December each year. Wikipedia has a good OVERVIEW of the Competition
In 2023, a total of 3,857 undergraduates from 471 institutions in Canada and the USA entered the competition. Oscar Lautsch placed in the Top 500. In the 2022 Competition, Hailey (Hyeyoung) Ahn placed in the Top 500. In the 2017 Competition, Ningxin Wei placed in the Top 500. In the 2015 Competition, Matthew Burgess placed in the Top 500. In the 2014 Competition, Adriano Arce and Koen van Greevenbroek placed in the Top 500. In the 2013 Competition, Jiaxing Liang placed in the Top 200. In the 2012 Competition, Josiah Klassen placed in the Top 500. In the 2011 Competition, Rui Sheng Shi placed in the Top 200 and Steven Melczer and Andrew Poelstra placed in the Top 500.
SFU's best performance to date was in 1999, when Colin Percival was one of the six highest ranking individuals and the team of Arthur Kowalczyk, Tomasz Kowalczyk and Colin Percival placed among the top ten teams.
The Putnam isn't easy. Typically more than half the entrants in any year score 0, 1 or 2 points — out of a possible 120! Yet the questions don't assume anything beyond standard undergraduate mathematics. Success in answering questions requires persistence, originality, and crystal-clear expression of ideas.
Interested?
- Try your hand at a few problems from previous Putnam Competitions to see what it's all about.
- Register for the writing-intensive course MATH 480W, The Art and Craft of Problem Solving.
- Contact Jonathan Jedwab to be included on the SFU Putnam email list and to be notified of problem-solving activities throughout the year.
- Attend a drop-in training session during the Summer or Fall
The Department of Mathematics makes awards to students achieving the following placings in the Putnam Competition.
Top 500... $100
Top 200... $150
Top 100... $200
Honourable Mention... $250
Groups N1 and N2... $300
Putnam Fellow... $350
