Contests

Williams College at the 82nd Putnam

The results are in for the 82nd William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition!  In December, eighteen Williams students (mostly in Williamstown, plus one in Budapest) competed in the daunting six-hour exam.  Our team was led by Rauan Kaldybayev, Jonathan Rogers, Alexander Shashkov, and Benjamin Baily, all of whom scored in the… Continue reading »

Williams at the 81st Putnam

On February 20 and 21, eleven Williams students took part in the 81st William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, held remotely due to COVID 19. Congratulations to all who participated, especially given the difficult circumstances!  Special shout outs to Zachary Stein-Perlman, who placed in the top 200 nationwide; and to Max… Continue reading »

Putnam 2015 Results

Williams had another strong showing in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. We had over 1.5% of campus take the exam, and our team placed in the top 50 in the nation with over 550 institutions participating. Over 4000 students took the exam nationwide and we had two students ranked… Continue reading »

Williams Defends Green Chicken 2015

The Williams team led by Granger Carty ’18, Zhiqi Li ’19, Gregory Kehne ’16 and Sam Donow ’16 defended the 2015 Green Chicken, defeating Middlebury 179-134 on their home turf. For those interested then here is the exam and solutions. Early on the Saturday morning of Halloween, 14 Williams… Continue reading »

Math Puzzles and Contests

The  purpose of this post is to talk about the weekly math puzzle night dinners run by myself and my sidekick, Professor Miller, and to invite you to join us for this and other related activities. Here’s a quick summary of problem solving activities; for more information or to be… Continue reading »

Putnam 2014

For the second year in a row, over 2% of the Williams campus chose to spend a significant part of a Saturday taking the Putnam: 12 problems each worth 10 points in 6 hours, with a score of 1 out of 120 excellent as the most common score is a… Continue reading »

2014 Green Chicken Defense

The upperclassmen returned and led Williams to a successful defense of the Green Chicken in 2014, 157 to 109 (led by John Bihn, Sam Donow and Granger Carty; exam and solution here, pictures here). See also the blurb on the bottom right of the Athletics homepage. Continue reading »

Math Problem Solving

The  purpose of this column is to talk about the weekly math puzzle night dinners run by myself and Professor Palsson, and to invite you to join us for this and other related activities. Here’s a quick summary of problem solving activities here; for more information or to be… Continue reading »

Putnam 2013

While December 7 will always justly live in infamy, this year we’ve added a good reason to remember it. Over 2% of the Williams’ campus took the 2013 Putnam exam; 44 students at Williams and 2 in Budapest. To be precise, the registrar says there are… Continue reading »

Putnam Exam Saturday

To participate in the notorious supernational Putnam Mathematics Competition contact Prof. Steven Miller and/or show up at 9:45 am Saturday in Bronfman 106. Last year the Williams team of Carlos Dominguez, Jared Hallett, and Wei Sun finished 19th in the nation on the infamous William Lowell Putnam… Continue reading »