Yearly Results for SFU Students

Dear Putnam 2023 Participants,

A total of 3,857 students from 471 institutions in the US and Canada participated in the 2023 Putnam Mathematical Competition. Congratulations to all 13 SFU students who took part in six exhausting hours of competition on a dark day last December!

Special congratulations to Oscar Lautsch, who achieved a placing in the Top 500. This earns $100 from the Department of Mathematics, as well as publication in the attached Announcement of Winners. Great job, Oscar!

All the best

Jonathan

Dear Putnam 2022 Participants,

A total of 3,415 students from 456 institutions in the US and Canada participated in the 2022 Putnam Mathematical Competition. Congratulations to all 9 SFU students who took part in six exhausting hours of competition on a dark day last December!

Special congratulations to Hailey (Hyeyoung) Ahn, who achieved a placing in the Top 500. This earns $100 from the Department of Mathematics, as well as publication in the Announcement of Winners. Great job, Hailey!

All the best

Jonathan

Jonathan Jedwab
Department of Mathematics
Simon Fraser University

Dear Putnam 2021 Participants,

Here is a link to the announcement of winners

https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Putnam/2021/AnnouncementOfWinnersFall2021.docx%20%284%29.pdf

Congratulations to everyone on an exhausting though hopefully fun day.

Some additional information:

The top two ranking SFU students were

1) James Andrews.  Rank:  671.  Score 12

2) Oliver Dalton.  Rank:  739.  Score 11

Congratulations to you two! Those are really good rankings.  Close to 3000 (2975) students wrote the contest from 427 institutions.  

FYI: Two solid questions correct (score 20) would put you at rank 352 (top 500!).  Three solid would put you at rank 193.  Four in the top 100!  

(All these ranking figures, including James and Oliver's, are deduced from the linked page above.)

SFU ranked 95 among those institutions.

One note: A1 was deceptively difficult. Only one person got full marks on it (Oliver). It took me a while to figure out how to write that one up nicely. Just my personal note!

I hope to see you again next year.

Take care,

Amarpreet Rattan

Department of Mathematics
Simon Fraser University

The Putnam Competition was first postponed due to Covid, then held in an unofficial mode with no rankings, official results, or prizes.

Dear Putnam 2019 Participants,

Thanks to all of you for writing the Putnam exam.  I had fun at the training, and I learned a lot. I hope you did as well.

For all those who will be eligible again next year, I hope you decide to come back.  For the others who move on, good luck in your future ventures. I sent the scores to you individually, but I think it would be nice to announce the person at SFU with the top score (I have asked his permission to do so!).

George Watkins. He got 17, with a placing of 667.  We all know this is a tough exam, and that is a very good showing.  Great job George!

I hope to see you again next year!

Take care all,

Amarpreet Rattan

Department of Mathematics
Simon Fraser University

Dear Putnam 2018 Participants,

Here are SFU's results for the 2018 Putnam Mathematical Competition, in which a total of 4623 students from the US and Canada participated.

13 SFU students sat the Competition, of whom six scored 10 or more points (corresponding to a placing in the top 25% of all 4623 participants). The pre-nominated SFU team placed 124th out of over 500 participating institutions.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in six exhausting hours of competition on a dark day last December! As promised, I will not publicise individual scores.

Please note that during the coming academic year 2019-2020 I will be on sabbatical, and that Dr. Amarpreet Rattan (a_rattan@sfu.ca) will be responsible for Putnam training and the Fall 2019 MATH 480W (The Art and Craft of Problem Solving) course. 

All the best
Jonathan

Department of Mathematics
Simon Fraser University

Dear Putnam 2017 Participants,

Here are SFU's results for the 2017 Putnam Mathematical Competition, in which a total of 4638 students from the US and Canada participated.

10 SFU students sat the Competition, of whom three scored 18 or more points (corresponding to at least two correct answers to the twelve questions, and a placing in the top 20% of all 4638 participants). The pre-nominated SFU team placed 124th out of over 400 teams.  

Special congratulations to Ningxin Wei, who placed in the Top 500 entrants.

And congratulations to everyone who took part in six exhausting hours of competition on a dark day last December! As promised, I will not publicise individual scores. You can find out your score by emailing me. For the first time, scores have been reported electronically and are available for each question individually!

I plan to start training sessions for the 2018 Putnam over the summer. If you’re interested in joining the Fall 2018 MATH 480W (The Art and Craft of Problem Solving) class and improving SFU’s performance in the 2018 Putnam then please drop me email.

All the best
Jonathan

Department of Mathematics
Simon Fraser University

Dear Putnam 2016 Participants,

Here are SFU's results for the 2016 Putnam Mathematical Competition, in which a total of 4164 students from the US and Canada participated.

10 SFU students sat the Competition, of whom 3 scored 19 or more points (corresponding to at least two correct answers to the twelve questions, and a placing in the top 20% of all 4164 participants). The pre-nominated SFU team placed 84th out of 415 teams.  

Unfortunately none of our entrants reached the threshold for a Top 500 placing, which last year was (an unusually high) 29 points.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in six exhausting hours of competition on a dark day last December! As promised, I will not publicise individual scores. You can find out your score by emailing me.  

I plan to start training sessions for the 2017 Putnam over the summer, and will email details soon. If you’re interested in joining the Fall 2017 MATH 480W (The Art and Craft of Problem Solving) class and improving SFU’s performance in the 2017 Putnam then please drop me email.

All the best
Jonathan

Department of Mathematics
Simon Fraser University

Dear Putnam 2015 Participants,

Here are SFU's results for the 2015 Putnam Mathematical Competition, in which a total of 4275 students from the US and Canada participated.

13 SFU students sat the Competition, of whom 4 scored 10 or more points (corresponding to at least one correct answer to the twelve questions, and a placing in the top 22% of all 4275 participants). The pre-nominated SFU team placed 109th out of 447 teams.   

Special congratulations to Matthew Burgess, who placed in the Top 500 entrants.

And congratulations to everyone who took part in six exhausting hours of competition on a dark day last December! As promised, I will not publicise individual scores. You can find out your score by emailing me.  

Special thanks to Avi Kulkarni for his help in the training sessions and on Putnam Day, and to Karen Yeats for invigilating both the morning and afternoon session on Putnam Day.

I plan to start training sessions for the 2016 Putnam over the summer, and will email details soon. If you’re interested in joining the Fall 2016 MATH 480W (The Art and Craft of Problem Solving) class and contributing to an even better SFU performance in the 2016 Putnam then please drop me email.

All the best
Jonathan

Department of Mathematics
Simon Fraser University

Dear Putnam 2014 Participants,

Here are SFU's results for the 2014 Putnam Mathematical Competition, in which a total of 4320 students from the US and Canada participated.

12 SFU students sat the Competition, of whom 11 scored 9 or more points (corresponding to at least one correct answer to the twelve questions, and a placing in the top 42% of all 4320 participants). The pre-nominated SFU team placed 69th out of 431 teams.

Adriano Arce and Koen van Greevenbroek placed in the Top 500. Koen’s performance is particularly noteworthy in that he is still in his first year of undergraduate studies and has not yet taken the Putnam training course The Art and Craft of Problem Solving (formerly MATH 370W, now renamed MATH 480W).

Congratulations to everyone who took part in six exhausting hours of competition on an unseasonably warm but nonetheless dark day last December! As promised, I will not publicise individual scores. You can find out your score by emailing me.

Special thanks to Avi Kulkarni for his help in the training sessions and on Putnam Day.

I plan to start training sessions for the 2015 Putnam over the summer, and will email details soon. If you’re interested in joining Koen in the Fall 2015 MATH 480W class and contributing to an even better SFU performance in the 2015 Putnam then please drop me email.

All the best
Jonathan

Department of Mathematics
Simon Fraser University