CPP Students Perform at Putnam
If you think school exams are hard, what would you think of one where most students score a zero, or one point out of 120 possible? That’s the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. It’s a grueling 6-hour math competition that sets a high bar for undergraduate math students. Thousands of students from hundreds of colleges from the U.S. and Canada participate in this prestigious competition that’s held in December.
CPP students made an impressive showing in the last competition placing 132 nationally. Clayton Coe earned 21 points. Ian Farish, and Samuel Lucas Mazariegos both scored 10.
“The Putnam Competition is three hours in the 8th circle of hell, then three in the 9th, with one hour of purgatory in the middle.” That’s how junior in applied math, Ian Farish describes it.
In the competition, students are given six problems to solve in three hours, followed by a two hour lunch break and then three hours to solve six more problems. Each problem requires a flawless proof in order to score the full 10 points.
“You can’t really study for it because you can’t predict the mathematical areas the questions might cover. It could be analytical geometry, calculus, probability, or something else. You can only review previous editions of the competition,” mechanical engineering senior Samuel Lucas Mazariegos said. Lucas Mazariegos credits Associate Professor Ventura’s class for teaching him problem solving skills and Professor Mihaila with teaching him how to write proofs.
Ventura, who proctored the exam at CPP also teaches the class MAT 4111A: Putnam Preparation. “Since the national median score on the Putnam Exam tends to be around 1/120 points, we focus on getting every student to solve one problem perfectly, which gives a score of 10/120. We’ve compiled a list of the more approachable Putnam problems from the past 30 years and encourage them to try any problem from that list in class,” Ventura said.
“All three of these students are talented young mathematicians who have taken the Putnam at least once before, which means they have a strong understanding of the rigorous expectations held by the competition graders. Over the last two years they’ve grown as problem solvers and mathematicians.”
Senior chemistry major Clayton Coe, who scored 21 said, “I devoted most of my time to one problem each session. One hour into the second session I had a ‘eureka’ moment when I was able to relate the problem to one I had solved in my coursework. I spent the next 90 minutes meticulously writing out the proof for this problem to ensure there were no errors. I attribute my score to the hours of practice with problems from previous competitions and writing up full proofs for them.”
Coe plans to work in the chemical industry and also plans on pursuing a graduate degree in mathematics starting in fall 2025.