The Putnam Competition

The William Lowell Putnam competition began in 1938 and is designed to stimulate a healthful rivalry in mathematical studies in the colleges and universities of the United States and Canada. It exists because Mr. William Lowell Putnam had a profound conviction in the value of organized team competition in regular college studies. To establish such a competition, his widow, Elizabeth Lowell Putnam, created a trust fund known as the William Lowell Putnam Intercollegiate Memorial Fund in 1927. The first competition supported by this fund was in the field of English and a few years later a second competition was held in mathematics. The exam assumed its present form and was placed under the administration of the Mathematical Association of America in 1935, after Mrs. Putnam's death.

The annual competition of this famous and prestigious exam is held in December. The Department of Mathematics and Statistics fields a team each year, and congratulates all of its contestants for their success this past year. Students who intend to take the Putnam exam will take 1016-481 Problem Solving with Dr. Marengo. Dr. James Marengo is the faculty advisor to students taking the exam and the Department thanks him for an outstanding job.