The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, often abbreviated to the
Putnam Competition, is an annual mathematics competition for
undergraduate college students enrolled at institutions of higher learning in
the United States and Canada. It awards a scholarship and cash prizes ranging
from $250 to $2,500 for the top students and $5,000 to $25,000 for the top
schools, plus one of the top five individual scorers gets graduate tuition
waived at Harvard, and the top 100 individual scorers have their names
mentioned in the American Mathematical Monthly's October issue. It is widely
considered to be the most prestigious university-level mathematics examination
in the world, and its difficulty is such that the median score is often zero or
one despite being attempted by students specializing in mathematics.
The competition was founded in 1927 by Elizabeth Lowell Putnam in memory of her
husband William Lowell Putnam, who was an advocate of intercollegiate
intellectual competition. The exam has been offered annually since 1938 and is
administered by the Mathematical Association of America.
Competition layout The Putnam competition now takes place
on the first Saturday in December, and consists of two three-hour sittings
separated by a lunch break. The test is supervised by faculty members at the
participating schools. Each competitor attempts to solve twelve problems, which
can typically be solved with only basic knowledge of college mathematics but
which require extensive creative thinking.
Each of the twelve questions is worth 10 points, and the most frequent scores
above zero are 10 points for a complete solution, 9 points for a nearly complete
solution, and 1 point for the beginnings of a solution. In earlier years, the
twelve questions were worth one point each, with no partial credit given. The
examination is considered to be very difficult: it is typically attempted by
students specializing in mathematics, but the median score is usually zero or
one point out of 120 possible, and there have been only four perfect scores as of
2010. In 2003, of the 3,615 students taking the exam, 1024 scored 10 or more
points, and 42 points was sufficient to make the top percentile.
At a participating college, any student who wishes to take part in the exam may
compete; but the school's official team consists of three individuals whom it
designates in advance. A team's score is the sum of the ranks of its three team
members, with the lowest cumulative rank winning. It is entirely possible, even
commonplace at some institutions, for the eventual results to show that the
"wrong" team was picked—i.e. that some students not on the official team
outscored an official team member. For example, in 2010, MIT had two of the top
five scorers on the examination and seven of the top 24, while Caltech had
just one student in the top five and only four in the top 24; yet Caltech
took first place among teams while MIT took second.
The top five teams win $25,000, $20,000, $15,000, $10,000, and $5,000, in that
order, with team members receiving $1,000, $800, $600, $400, and $200,
respectively. The top five individual scorers are
named Putnam Fellows and awarded $2,500. One of them is also awarded the William
Lowell Putnam Prize Scholarship of $12,000 plus tuition for graduate study
at Harvard University. Sixth through 15th place individuals receive $1,000
and the next ten receive $250. The names of the top 100 students are published in
the American Mathematical Monthly. Many Putnam Fellows have gone on to become
distinguished researchers in mathematics and other fields, including three Fields
Medalists—Milnor, Mumford, and Quillen—and two Nobel laureates in
physics—Feynman and Wilson. Winners
= Top-scoring teams = = Teams ranked by historical performance
Below is a table of teams by the number of appearances in the top five and
number of titles. Where multiple teams have the same number of appearances in
the top five, they are ranked by number of championships, and then listed in
alphabetical order. The following table lists Teams
finishing in Top Five: The following table lists teams that
finished in the top five since 1990: The following table lists Teams with
First place finishes: = Putnam Fellows =
Since the first competition, the top five scorers on the examination have
been named Putnam Fellows. Within the top five, Putnam Fellows are not ranked.
Students are not allowed to participate in the Putnam Competition more than four
times. For example, if a high school senior chooses to officially
participate, he/she effectively chooses to forfeit one of his/her years of
eligibility in college. This makes it even more of a remarkable feat to become
a Putnam Fellow four times. In the history of Competition, only eight
students have been Putnam Fellows four times, with twenty others winning the
award three times. The following table lists these students:
The following table lists all Putnam fellows from 1938 to present, with the
years they placed in the top five. = Elizabeth Lowell Putnam Award winners
Since 1992, the Elizabeth Lowell Putnam Award has been available to be awarded
to a female participant with a high score. The year(s) in which they were
Fellows are in bold. Notes
References Gallian, Joseph A., "The First sixty-six
years of the Putnam competition", American Mathematical Monthly 111:
691–699, doi:10.2307/4145042, retrieved 21 November 2012
External links William Lowell Putnam Mathematical
Competition official site William Lowell Putnam Mathematical
Competition results William Lowell Putnam Competition
problems, solutions, and results archive Archive of Putnam Problems and Student
Solutions Archive of Problems 1938-2003
The Harvard-United States Military Academy Mathematics Competition of 1933:
Genesis of the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition
Searchable data base for information about careers of Putnam Fellows
A comprehensive history of the Putnam competition. An electronic update of
Gallian's 2004 paper.