putnam @ dowlingThe William Lowell Putnam math competition is an undergraduate math competition among students of USA and Canada. More information on it can be found here: http://math.scu.edu/putnam/index.html. From Dowling, students took this exam a couple of times--in recent history Peter Zhivkov, Petko Ivanov, and Mohammad Toure competed in 2001. We participated again in 2002, with as many as 11 students recruited for the test (9 showed up). Discussion for those interested ! Links:Problems/SolutionsPast problems and solutions Dave Rusin's solutions site John Scholes collection of Putnam problems Mock Tests University of Illinois Ravi Vakil's site for Stanford Prof. W. Kahan's Notes and Problems for Math. H90 The above links and the list of books below (available at the library) are a good preparation for beginners: Books:How to solve it, George Polya, QA11 .P6 1971Problem solving through problems, Loren C. Larson, QA43 .L37 1983 The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition problems and solutions: 1965-1984, Gerald L. Alexanderson, Leonard F. Klosinski, Loren C. Larson, QA43 .W54 1965 (apparently missing) The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition problems and solutions : 1938-1964, A. M. Gleason, R. E. Greenwood, L. M. Kelly, QA43 .W54 (apparently missing) 100 great problems of elementary mathematics; their history and solution/, David Antin, QA43 .D613 1965 |