The Putnam at Oberlin—2006

How to sign up

Look for a sign up sheet early in fall semester. There will also be announcements in math classes.

The exam itself

The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition will be held on a Saturday in early December. The morning session will run from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., while the afternoon session will run from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

We are required to proctor the competition. Hence, there will be a professor in the room throughout both sessions (unusual for an exam at Oberlin, thanks to our honor system).

Our team

Will be determined next fall.

The John D. Baum Prize

The John D. Baum prize, which includes a check for $100, is awarded each year to the Oberlin student who receives the highest point score on the Putnam Mathematical Competition.

Dinner afterwards

The Department of Mathematics will take all participants out for dinner (in past years, it's usually been to the Mandarin) after the afternoon session ends. Everyone who has participated in the competition, even for just one session, is welcome to join us---and there will be ample vegetarian options.

Any questions?

Ask Ms. Wilmer.

Putnam links

The official Putnam site. Rules, past winners, a brief history, other information.
The American Mathematical Monthly publishes the problems and solutions each year, along with a list of winners. Here's a list of which past issues contain competition reports. The American Mathematical Monthly is available on JSTOR, to which Oberlin has access.
Three books collecting Putnam problems and solutions have been published: one volume for each of 1938–1964, 1965–1984, 1985–2000.
This web archive contains problems and solutions from 1985 (after the second book ends) on.
The newsgroup sci.math generally has some discussion of the competition shortly after it happens.
Here's a terrific introduction to how the Putnam works. Also at the UIUC Putnam site: many practice problems and lots of other useful information.
Ravi Vakil maintains a wonderful Putnam page at Stanford.
This page links to many other schools' Putnam pages.
This Wikipedia article on the Putnam has lots of stats, right up front.

Problems from previous practice sessions

2004: Session 1, Session 2, and Session 3.
2003: Session 1 and Session 2.

Oberlin's recent Putnam past

Year	Team	Team rank	Baum prize	Number of Oberlin participants	Oberlin median score	National median score
2005	Hugh Churchill Noah Forman Cynthia Vinzant	50	Daniel Herr	11	10	1
2004	Jonathan Hirsch Ellen Chai Christopher Burns	33	Christopher Burns Jonathan Hirsch	15	9	0
2003	Matthew Booth Christopher Burns Jonathan Hirsch	77	Nathan Lemons	9	4	1
2002	Ian Biringer Jed Davis Jonathan Needleman	73	Jed Davis	17	9	2
2001	Matthew Booth Jed Davis Raymi Dyskant	47	Jed Davis	10	10	1
2000	Tristram Bogart Raymi Dyskant David Oertel	56	Jed Davis	15	0	0
1999	Tristram Bogart Raymi Dystkant David Oertel	84	Tristram Bogart Raymi Dyskant	13	0	0
1998	Tristram Bogart Raymi Dyskant Simos Papanas	77	Raymi Dyskant	14	11	1

Note: In 1972, Oberlin's team ranked second nationally!

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Last updated April 3, 2006 by Elizabeth Wilmer.