The 2006 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition Results

Four students from Youngstown State University participated
in the 2006 Putnam Mathematical Competition. The students were
J. T. Hird, David Martin, Matt Ward and Brian Hamilton.
There were 3640 participants from 508 colleges and universities
in the United States and Canada.

The Putnam exam consists of twelve questions each worth 10 points
a piece so that scores range from 0 to 120. This year, about 2280
participants received 0 points, which is over 60% of the total
number of participants taking the test. This shows how challenging
the exam questions are and that the exam was harder than usual this year.

Brian Hamilton finished ranked in the top 21% of all participants taking
the exam.
J.T. Hird finished ranked in the top 25%. Matt Ward and David Martin
finished ranked in the top 35%.

The YSU team finished in the top 16% of all teams in the competition.
This is exceptional work on the part of our students in this
prestigious competition. This is the second highest team ranking we
have had since I have been here at YSU. Congratulations are in order
to all participants on a job very well done. Also special thanks to
Jacek Fabrykowski for helping prepare the team.

Also, Aaron Pollack, son of Dave Pollack, took the exam representing
Duke University. He finished in the top 5% of all participants taking
the exam as a sophomore.