The William Lowell Putnam Exam is the premier undergraduate Mathematics competition in the US and Canada. It is given annually on the first Saturday in December and consists of 6 problems in each of two 3-hour sessions. The problems are always challenging, and a score of one correct problem usually places a student in the top quartile. Here is a nice article by Bruce Reznick (former Putnam problem-writer and professor at UIUC) on writing Putnam problems:
https://faculty.math.illinois.edu/~reznick/putnam.pdf
I will be running Putnam problem solving sessions for ISU undergraduate students - Thursdays at 1:00pm in Carver 400. Typically we will talk about problems from the previous week, discuss a new idea or problem strategy, and hand out problems for the following week. The hope is that students might solve a couple and be willing to present solutions a week later.
2023 Problem Sets:
2022 Problem Sets:
2021 Problem Sets:
2020 Problem Sets:
Older Problem Sets:
Problem Set 1 (Induction and Pigeonhole Principle)
Solutions
Problem Set 2 (Polynomials)
Solutions
Problem Set 3 (Calculus)
Solutions
Problem Set 4 (Abstract and Linear Algebra)
Solutions
Past ISU Putnam Team Results
| Year | Team Rank | Top Individual |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 56th | Andrew Osborne - 31 pts (Rank: 235) |
| 2021 | 64th | Andrew Osborne - 24 pts (Rank: 265) |
| 2020 | - | Evan Hilton - 9 pts |
| 2019 | - | - |
| 2018 | 64th | - |