This third volume of problems from the William Lowell Putnam Competition is unlike the previous two in that it places the problems in the context of important mathematical themes. The authors highlight connections to other problems, to the curriculum and to more advanced topics. The best problems contain kernels of sophisticated ideas related to important current research, and yet the problems are accessible to undergraduates. The solutions have been compiled from the American Mathematical Monthly, Mathematics Magazine and past competitors. Multiple solutions enhance the understanding of the audience, explaining techniques that have relevance to more than the problem at hand. In addition, the book contains suggestions for further reading, a hint to each problem, separate from the full solution and background information about the competition. The book will appeal to students, teachers, professors and indeed anyone interested in problem solving as a gateway to a deep understanding of mathematics.

This third volume of problems from the William Lowell Putnam Competition is unlike the previous two in that it places the problems in the context of important mathematical themes. The authors highlight connections to other problems, to the curriculum and to more advanced topics. The best problems contain kernels of sophisticated ideas related to important current research, and yet the problems are accessible to undergraduates. The solutions have been compiled from the American Mathematical Monthly, Mathematics Magazine and past competitors. Multiple solutions enhance the understanding of the audience, explaining techniques that have relevance to more than the problem at hand. In addition, the book contains suggestions for further reading, a hint to each problem, separate from the full solution and background information about the competition. The book will appeal to students, teachers, professors and indeed anyone interested in problem solving as a gateway to a deep understanding of mathematics.

Back by popular demand, the MAA is pleased to reissue this outstanding collection of problems and solutions from the Putnam Competitions covering the years 1938-1964. Problemists the world over, including all past and future Putnam Competitors, will revel in mastering the difficulties posed by this collection of problems from the first 25 William Lowell Putnam Competitions.

This book takes the reader on a journey through the world of college mathematics, focusing on some of the most important concepts and results in the theories of polynomials, linear algebra, real analysis, differential equations, coordinate geometry, trigonometry, elementary number theory, combinatorics, and probability. Preliminary material provides an overview of common methods of proof: argument by contradiction, mathematical induction, pigeonhole principle, ordered sets, and invariants. Each chapter systematically presents a single subject within which problems are clustered in each section according to the specific topic. The exposition is driven by nearly 1300 problems and examples chosen from numerous sources from around the world; many original contributions come from the authors. The source, author, and historical background are cited whenever possible. Complete solutions to all problems are given at the end of the book. This second edition includes new sections on quad ratic polynomials, curves in the plane, quadratic fields, combinatorics of numbers, and graph theory, and added problems or theoretical expansion of sections on polynomials, matrices, abstract algebra, limits of sequences and functions, derivatives and their applications, Stokes' theorem, analytical geometry, combinatorial geometry, and counting strategies. Using the W.L. Putnam Mathematical Competition for undergraduates as an inspiring symbol to build an appropriate math background for graduate studies in pure or applied mathematics, the reader is eased into transitioning from problem-solving at the high school level to the university and beyond, that is, to mathematical research. This work may be used as a study guide for the Putnam exam, as a text for many different problem-solving courses, and as a source of problems for standard courses in undergraduate mathematics. Putnam and Beyond is organized for independent study by undergraduate and gradu ate students, as well as teachers and researchers in the physical sciences who wish to expand their mathematical horizons.

The William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition is the most prestigious undergraduate mathematics problem-solving contest in North America, with thousands of students taking part every year. This volume presents the contest problems for the years 2001-2016. The heart of the book is the solutions; these include multiple approaches, drawn from many sources, plus insights into navigating from the problem statement to a solution. There is also a section of hints, to encourage readers to engage deeply with the problems before consulting the solutions.The authors have a distinguished history of en.

This lively, problem-oriented text, first published in 2004, is designed to coach readers toward mastery of the most fundamental mathematical inequalities. With the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality as the initial guide, the reader is led through a sequence of fascinating problems whose solutions are presented as they might have been discovered - either by one of history's famous mathematicians or by the reader. The problems emphasize beauty and surprise, but along the way readers will find systematic coverage of the geometry of squares, convexity, the ladder of power means, majorization, Schur convexity, exponential sums, and the inequalities of Hölder, Hilbert, and Hardy. The text is accessible to anyone who knows calculus and who cares about solving problems. It is well suited to self-study, directed study, or as a supplement to courses in analysis, probability, and combinatorics.

This book is full of practical suggestions for students with Asperger Syndrome on how to make the post-16 educational experience a good one.

Annotation This book provides an introduction to the vast subject of initial and initial-boundary value problems for PDEs, with an emphasis on applications to parabolic and hyperbolic systems. The Navier-Stokes equations for compressible and incompressible flows are taken as an example to illustrate the results. Researchers and graduate students in applied mathematics and engineering will find Initial-Boundary Value Problems and the Navier-Stokes Equations invaluable. The subjects addressed in the book, such as the well-posedness of initial-boundary value problems, are of frequent interest when PDEs are used in modeling or when they are solved numerically. The reader will learn what well-posedness or ill-posedness means and how it can be demonstrated for concrete problems. There are many new results, in particular on the Navier-Stokes equations. The direct approach to the subject still gives a valuable introduction to an important area of applied analysis.

Discovered at the turn of the 20th century, p-adic numbers are frequently used by mathematicians and physicists. This text is a self-contained presentation of basic p-adic analysis with a focus on analytic topics. It offers many features rarely treated in introductory p-adic texts such as topological models of p-adic spaces inside Euclidian space, a special case of Hazewinkel’s functional equation lemma, and a treatment of analytic elements.

This book features mathematical problems and results that would be of interest to all mathematicians, but especially undergraduates (and even high school students) who participate in mathematical competitions such as the International Math Olympiads and Putnam Competition. The format is a dialogue between a professor and eight students in a summer problem solving camp and allows for a conversational approach to the problems as well as some mathematical humor and a few nonmathematical digressions. The problems have been selected for their entertainment value, elegance, trickiness, and unexpectedness, and have a wide range of difficulty, from trivial to horrendous. They range over a wide variety of topics including combinatorics, algebra, probability, geometry, and set theory. Most of the problems have not appeared before in a problem or expository format. A Notes section at the end of the book gives historical information and references.