Fall 2022 - Putnam Exam Seminar

Putnam Competition Information

Every year, usually the first Saturday of December, schools from the US and Canada compete in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition.  Undergraduates from each school may compete as part of their school team, and the best teams and individuals win prizes.

The Competition is divided into two six-problem exams, Section A and Section B.  Students are given three hours in the morning to work on Section A, followed by a two hour lunch break, and then three more hours to work on Section B in the afternoon.  Each problem is scored out of 10 points for a total of 120 points possible for both Sections.  That being said, each year over half of the people who participate in the Competition score either 0 or 1 all together.  Ideally the Putnam Competition is more about a student's innate problem-solving abilities than it is about being good at specific mathematics classes.  A good analogy is that it takes more than a large vocabulary to be good at Scrabble, although a good vocabulary certainly doesn't hurt!

For more information, visit the MAA's Putnam Competition web page.

Who can participate in the Putnam Competition?

Anyone currently enrolled as an undergraduate at any university in Canada or the US can participate in the Competition, provided they have not participated four times previously.  This means that, currently, every undergraduate at Trinity is eligible!

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