William Lowell Putnam Competition
The William Lowell Putnam Competition is an annual, prestigious math competition among students in the United States and Canada. The competition is hosted by the Mathematical Association of America .
Both university teams and individual winners are evaluated (the best five participants become Putnam Fellows ). The prize money fluctuates, but is usually several thousand dollars (in recent years the first team received $ 25,000 and the team members each received 1,000, the next four teams accordingly less; the top five participants each received $ 2,500). One of the Putnam Fellows also receives a Putnam Foundation scholarship to study at Harvard.
The competition is named after the founder William Lowell Putnam (died 1935) and has been held since 1938. Participants from colleges and universities must not have completed a degree ( undergraduates ). Even high school graduates are allowed to participate, each participant but not more than four times. The exams take place at the respective universities and last two three hours in the morning and afternoon. Twelve problems have to be solved.
The Elizabeth Lowell Putnam Prize is also awarded to the best female participants .
The test, which around 2,000 students take, takes place on the first Saturday in December each year.