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North Central Team Competition
The North Central Team Competition took place on on November 15, 2008.
Eight teams of undergraduates from The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Campus entered. Of these eight, 4 finished in the top 6 of this competition in which
a total of 70 teams participated. The winning team was from St. Olaf College.
Teams consist of three or fewer members working together for
three hours on ten problems. Only one solution for each problem
may be submitted the each team. The maximum score for each
problem is 10; thus 100 is the maximum possible score. The winning
score in 2008 was 97.
The 2009 Competition will take place on November 14, 2009, from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon.
Professor Lawson and I will run practice sessions in the weeks preceding the
contest.
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The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition
The Putnam Competition will take place December 5, 2009 from
9:00am-noon followed by 2:00pm-5:00pm. It is primarily an individual competition
among several thousand undergraduate students in Canada and the
United States. Students have 3 hours to work on 6 problems in the
morning session and another 3 hours to work on a different 6
problems in the afternoon session. It is also a team competition in
the following sense: Professor Lawson and I will
designate three of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, contestants
as the U of M, TC team. There is no cooperation during the competition
of the team members, but their individual scores are summed in order
to give a team score.
Each problem is worth 10 points; the total possible score is 120.
The problems are very challenging and the partial credit grading very
tough, since the purpose is to clearly identify the top five individuals
in this competition among thousands. But it is also important that the
problems are quite interesting, and that participating in the competition
can be an enriching experience for those whose total scores are
only in the single digits.
Registration for this competition has to be made quite early in the Fall semsester.
Thus, it is important that students who are interested in competing in 2009 get in
early contact with Prof. Lawson or myself.. Whenever you let this person
know that you want to enter, make sure to include your e-mail
address---and let he or him know if you want your e-mail address hidden
from other contestants. The reason for this last request is
that typically mailings are sent to those who want to enter,
using an e-mail address list and the addresses are not hidden in order to
facilitate contact among contestants
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Practice Sessions for the North Central Team and Putnam Competitions
In Fall semester, there are Practice sessions. On the one hand, it is not required that
one attend any of the practice sessions in order to enter one or both of the contests.
On the other hand, attendance and participation in the practice sessions
does not entail a commitment to enter either of the two contests. And arriving and
leaving as convenient has become the norm for these sessions. For instance, in
Fall 2008, it has worked rather well to have practice from 12:20-4:25 on Fridays
with myself there during the first half and Prof Lawson during the second; and
I don't think any student was ever there for all 4 hours. since the practice
sessions are informal, it is not impolite to arrive late or leave
early or even to leave early only to later to return.
In order to help us schedule practices at times most convenient to as many
as possible, it would be helpful if you provide information about your
schedule. When you do, it is best if you distinguish actual conflicts from personal
preferences.
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Contests for Middle- and High-School Students, Sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America
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School Team Mathematics Contests in Minnesota
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The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.