Problem Solving Seminar

Tuesday, September 3

Math/Stat Seminar Room

Science Center 149

7pm

This is an informal seminar on solving the sorts of problems found on the William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition. We’ll look at some past problems, practice writing solutions, and cover some subjects that appear often on the exam (like number theory, graphs, polynomials, inequalities).

Come join us to prepare for the Putnam, or just to have fun with problems. You don’t have to attend the seminar to take the exam, or vice versa. You don’t have to be a math major. If you like (very) challenging problems, give it a try!

Refreshments will be provided.

The William Lowell Putnam

MATHEMATICS COMPETITION

The Putnam exam is a national problem-solving competition for undergraduate students. It takes the form of a 12-problem exam that require ingenuity, but not much advanced mathematics, so first-year students can be competitive. Past exams are posted near Science Center 159 and at

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

This year’s competition takes place Saturday, December 1, 2007.

To get on the problem-seminar mailing list contact Walter Stromquist (wstromq1@swarthmore.edu).