Putnam practice
November 24 problems have been posted!
Time: 7:30pm-9:30pm each Tuesday, in Fine Hall 214, starting on November 10. Keep in mind that the exam will take place on Saturday, December 5.
New: From now on, we will have separate sessions for easier and harder problems. Easy problems will be discussed between 7:30 and 8:25, hard ones from 8:30 to as late as we need. Please protest really quickly if you don't like this; we'll try our best to accommodate your schedule, but send an e-mail right away. You're free to come or leave at any time you wish.
Béla Rácz is in charge of the practice; find me at bracz(at)math.(university’s name).edu with any questions.
Problems
You can find the problems of previous years here; the “assignments” are from this page. I’ll attempt to sort them in an approximate order of difficulty, but never trust that very much.
Problems for November 24
Geometry on our agenda.
Easy problems: 98/A1, 98/A6, 98/A2, 99/B1
Harder problems: 98/B2, 98/A5, 00/A3, 01/A4, 98/B3, 00/A5
Problems for November 17
This week we have calculus & analysis.
Easy problems: 98/B1, 99/A1, 98/A3, 99/B3, 01/B3
Hard problems: 98/B5, 99/A5, 00/A4, 01/B5
Really hard (we may not discuss them, but I bow before your greatness if you give me a good solution): 99/B4, 01/A6
Problems for November 10
This week we look at some problems from algebra & number theory.
2000/A-2, 1999/A-2, 2001/A-1, 2001/A-5, 1998/B-6, 2001/B-4, 1999/B-5, 2000/A-6
You may also want to look at IMC problems.
Or if you crave some really hard take-home competition problems, check out the Miklós Schweitzer memorial competition. Even years (those divisible by 2 :-) ) are especially killer.
About the sessions
During the practice sessions, we will discuss solutions for the problems given on the previous week; there will be little time to do the actual thinking in class. In order to get something out of this, you should thoroughly read and understand the problems at home and ideally mount a serious try to solve each one.
I encourage you to write down the solutions for any problems that you have solved; I’m happy to check anything you hand in and provide you with feedback on mathematical correctness and readability. Writing well (and efficiently) is a major factor not only in competitions, but also later in your lives, in academia (and probably even more in business). In addition, writing things down will make it easier to catch any errors or inaccuracies and to learn about your strengths & weaknesses.
Please e-mail me at once if you have any suggestions about the way the sessions go.
IMC ad
Are you interested in a week of holiday in exotic Eastern/Central Europe while taking part in a fun Putnam-like competition? Looking for something impressive to boost your CV or going for the money awards for the top finishers? Want to represent America in an international challenge?
Then stay tuned for IMC announcements and keep your schedule clear in late July/early August! I’m happy to answer any questions you may have about IMC.