Putnam Competition

at



2013 Freshman Prize Information

2013 Rochester Olympiad Information



Announcements

Our seventh meeting on Wed Nov. 7 is at 4:45 in the Malott fifth floor lounge. The topic will be geometry. (Pages 201-231 of Putnam and Beyond by Razvan Gelca and Titu Andreescu address this topic.) On campus, just clicking the above link will get you to the book. Off campus, the following webpages from the Cornell library explain how Cornell Community members can access the book as well: Light refreshments will be served.

The 2012 Putnam is Saturday Dec 1. from 10 to 1 and 3 to 6 in Malott 251. (We'll serve a pizza lunch in between.)

Since there are administrative details related to identification numbers that need to be taken care of beforehand, people should arrive by 9:45 am.


Problem Session Topics from 2012 listed below: Problem Session Topics from 2011 listed below:

(repeated from above at the moment)

A very nice Putnam preparation book is Putnam and Beyond by Razvan Gelca and Titu Andreescu. On campus, just clicking the above link will get you to the book. Off campus, the following webpages from the Cornell library explain how Cornell Community members can access the book as well:


Other good problem books available this way as well as information about the whole range of newly accessible materials are below:

Many of our practice sessions this year will be coordinated with sections from Putnam and Beyond. It can take a long time to work through all the problems in even one section of this book. So we will sometimes be providing some guides for those who want to spend a more modest amount of time on this.

Practice Putnam Exam 2010

Practice Putnam Exam 2008

2012's Putnam practices will be organized by Prof. Muscalu and Dr. Back.

Last Update: Feb. 15, 2013

E-mail to
putnam@math.cornell.edu
is one way to be added to our Putnam preparation mailing list and registered for the exam.


One of the most beautiful Putnam preparation books is the 1985-2000 collection by Kiran S. Kedlaya, Bjorn Poonen, and Ravi Vakil. Available from the MAA or e.g. Amazon.

Older Materials

Some Resources

William Lowell Putnam Competition Archive.
Excellent source for solutions 1995-present.
John Scholes Putnam Problems
Huge and amazingly complete, but with rephrasings due to copyright needs, and often brief solutions.
(Original Link no longer working?)
Wayback Machine with Archives of the Web from the Past
John Scholes IMO site.
International Math Olympiad Problems are sometimes at a similar level to Putnam ones.
(Link no longer working?)
Currently Working Copy of John Scholes Site
Dave Rusin's Putnam Page
Official Awards Site
Google Problem Archives Pointers
Official Website for Putnam Competition
American Mathematical Monthly via JSTOR
Archives here contain annual writeups (e.g. Oct. 85-87, 89, 93-98) of the competition. More months listed here.
Prof. Kahan's Berkeley Preparation Notes
Many years worth in one place.
International Mathematics Competition for University Students
Canadian IMO Site
IMO Compendium
IMO Compendium Olympiad Training Materials
Putnam Fellow
from the Wikipedia. Includes some interesting historical information.

E-mail to
putnam@math.cornell.edu
will be forwarded to this year's local organizers. (Camil Muscalu, Allen Back)

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