To: Undergraduates of Mathematics

Re: The Putnam Contest

From: E.J. Barbeau

Date: September 10, 2003 

The Putnam contest will probably be written on
Saturday, December 6, 2003. There are two three-hour
papers of six questions each; one will be written
from 10 am until 1 pm and the second from 3 pm until
6 pm. There is no registration fee.

You can consult the following websites to get a handle
on the type of questions that are asked.

1. I have been informed of a very good website for
problemists. There are hints and solutions available,
as well as the problems. It was set up by John Scholes
and contains Russian problems, Putnam problems, IMO problems,
Donald Newman problems, Eotvos problems, Schweitzer problems,
Polya & Szego problems and Berkeley preliminaries problems.
The site is

   http://www.kalva.demon.co.uk/


2. Websites about the Putnam Competition

Here are some websites for you to visit re the Putnam
Competition:

http://www.unl.edu/amc/a-activities/a7-problems/putnam/

     Problems from 1985 to 2000; solutions from 1995 to 2000

http://math.ucsd.edu/~pfitz/pastputnam.html

     Problems from 1980 in Postscript, Adobe and dvi

http://www.math.ksu.edu/math/compete/putnamexams

     I could not connect this. However, www.math.ksu.edu
     does have links to a wide variety of mathematics sites.

3. Putnam Problem of the Day

http://www.math.harvard.edu/putnam/index.html


If you wish to write the Putnam competition, you should let
me know before the end of September. Just send me a message
at barbeau@math.utoronto.ca. I need to know (1) your name
(as it will appear on the application form);
(2) your email address(es); (3) the main mathematics course
that you are enrolled in (e.g. MAT 157Y, 194F, etc.).
Please pass the word to friends who might be interested.

I plan to send a message in about a week that will confirm the
names that I have on my list so far. I also want to organize
a few preparation sessions, the first tentatively for
Wednesday, October 1 at 4-6 pm. 

E. Barbeau

--------------------------------------------------------------

I have booked a room on Wednesdays
from 4 until 6, where undergraduates can come
to discuss problems in preparation for the
 The process is
pretty liberal. 

What I have done is to walk in
with a few problems, put them on the board and
ask for some ideas to develop. Occasionally,
I might focus on a particular topic (such as
inequalities). To encourage the students,
I occasionally picked suitable problems out the
MAA journals (such as the Monthly) and suggest that
the students might send in their solutions to be
published. There are several websites with
Putnam problems.Putnam paper. I will be able to cover some
weeks myself, but not all.