William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition

The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition is a highly challenging, proof-oriented mathematics competition for undergraduate students in North America.

Top scoring students on the Putnam exam are named Putnam Fellows.

The Competition

The Putnam Exam is a two-session undergraduate exam in which there are 3 hours in each sitting with a 2-hour lunch break between them. There are 6 problems in each session. It is usually held once a year on the first Saturday of December. Each problem is graded on a scale of 0-10. This makes a perfect score of 120. The top five scorers (more if there are ties) on the exam are named "Putnam Fellows."

Each school chooses three students before the contest to be the official school Putnam team. The team rankings are determined by adding the ranks of the three students on the team -- thus, a school whose team members placed 1st, 2nd and 20th would likely place lower than a school whose team members placed 6th, 7th and 8th.

A person make take the Putnam Exam a maximum of four times.

Placings and Prizes

The prizes are as follows:

Individuals

• Putnam fellows
  • $2,500
• The next top ten individuals
  • $1,000
• Next Ten Individuals
  • $250

Teams

• First Place team
  • Team members recieve $1,000
  • School recieves $25,000
• Second Place Team
  • Team members recieve $800
  • School recieves $20,000
• Third Place Team
  • Team members recieve $600
  • School recieves $15,000
• Fourth Place Team
  • Team members recieves $400
  • School recieves $10,000
• Fifth Place Team
  • Team members recieve $200
  • School recieves $5,000

• Elizabeth Lowell Putnam Prize- The Elizabeth Lowell Putnam Prize will be awarded periodically to a woman whose performance in the Competition has been deemed particularly meritorious. This prize would be in addition to any other prize she might otherwise win. Women contestants, to be eligible for this prize, must specify their gender.
  • $1,000

Past Winners

Note that the Putnam Fellows for any given year are listed in alphabetical order, whereas the top-scoring teams are listed in their order of finish.

Putnam Fellows

• 2005:
  • Oleg Goldberg
  • Matthew Ince
  • Daniel Kane
  • Ricky Liu
  • Tiankai Liu
  • Aaron Pixton
• 2004:
  • Reid Barton
  • Vladmir Barzov
  • Ana Caraiani
  • Daniel Kane
  • Aaron Pixton
• 2003:
  • Reid Barton
  • Ana Caraiani
  • Gabriel Carroll
  • Ralph Furmaniak
  • Daniel Kane
• 2002:
  • Reid Barton
  • Gabriel Carroll
  • Deniss Cebikins
  • Alexander Schwartz
  • Melanie Wood
• 2001:
  • Reid Barton
  • Gabriel Carroll
  • Kevin Lacker
  • George Lee Jr.
  • Jan Siwanowicz

Team Winners

• 2005:
  • Harvard University
  • Princeton University
  • Duke University
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • University of Waterloo
• 2004:
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Princeton University
  • Duke University
  • University of Waterloo
  • California Institute of Technology
• 2003:
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Harvard University
  • Duke University
  • California Institute of Technology
  • Harvey Mudd College
• 2002:
  • Harvard University
  • Princeton University
  • Duke University
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • Stanford University
• 2001:
  • Harvard University
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Duke University
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • Stanford University

Problem Books

• 1938-1964 -- A good book for students just learning to solve Putnam Problems.
• 1965-1984
• 1985-2000 by Kiran Kedlaya, Bjorn Poonen, and Ravi Vakil. The three authors are among the most successful Putnam participants of all time.

Resources

• Putnam Archive on the AMC website.
• The Putnam Forum at AoPS.
• Putnam problem and solution database in the AoPS Contest Database.
• How to Write a Solution by Richard Rusczyk & Mathew Crawford.
• List of United States college mathematics competitions