Math 194, Autumn 2009

Karl Rubin


Announcements

The Putnam exam will be given on Saturday December 5, 2009, 8-11 am and 1-4 pm, in Rowland Hall 101 (not the usual classroom). Students enrolled in Math 194 must attend both the morning and afternoon sessions.

There will be an optional session (with refreshments) on Tuesday December 8, at 7pm in RH 306, to go over the Putnam exam.

There is an EEE forum, for any comments and questions related to the problems discussed in Math 194. Feel free to make use of it!

If you are interested in additional meetings to spend more time working on problems, contact Dennis Eichhorn. Dennis would also be happy to look at and give feedback on your written solutions to any of the problems.

More practice material courtesy of Dennis Eichhorn:

    Problems A1 and B1 (the easiest Putnam problems) from the past 20 years, with solutions.
    a mock Putnam exam with solutions.
    general Putnam problem-solving tools


Important dates:

Putnam exam: Saturday December 5, 2009, 8-11 am and 1-4 pm, RH 306

You can take the Putnam Exam even if you don't take Math 194, but you must sign up by October 6. (If you are enrolled in Math 194, I will sign you up automaticaly.) To sign up, send me an e-mail at krubin@uci.edu. All signups will be acknowledged. Because of the early deadline, you should sign up if there's any chance at all you'll want to take the exam. If you're not enrolled in Math 194 and you change your mind later and don't take the exam, that's OK.


Structure:

The seminar meets Tuesdays 7:00-8:20 pm in RH 306. Each week there will be a discussion and presentations of homework solutions, a short lecture, and some time to work on new problems.

Everyone is welcome, whether or not you are enrolled for credit. If you like solving problems it should be fun. If you want to take the Putnam exam (and who wouldn't?) this will be good practice.


Grading:

The grading is pass/not pass only. To pass, attendance, participation in class, and taking the Putnam Exam (both the morning and the afternoon session) are required.

Attendance will be recorded. One unexcused absence after September 29 is allowed. Anything beyond that requires a doctor's note or similar documentation.


Text:

Problem solving through problems, by Loren Larson.


General information about the Putnam exam:

Official site
Harvey Mudd Putnam page
Archive of problems and solutions


Syllabus (tentative)

You are strongly encouraged to write up and hand in a careful and complete solution to (at least) one of the problems. These can be either submitted electronically, or as a hard copy.

date Chapter from Larson problems to do for next week some solutions, courtesy of Dennis Eichhorn
(a comment about the solutions)
Sept. 29 1   problem set 1 solutions
Oct. 6 2   problem set 2 solutions
Oct. 13 3   problem set 3   solutions
Oct. 20 4   problem set 4   solutions
Oct. 27 5   problem set 5   solutions
Nov. 3 6   problem set 6   solutions
Nov. 10 7   problem set 7   solutions
Nov. 17 8   problem set 8   solutions
Nov. 24     problem set 9   solutions
Dec. 1      
Dec. 8 Optional meeting to go over Putnam exam