Green Chicken Homepage: Putnam Sat, Dec 6

Next Meetings: We'll meet every Monday from 6-7:30pm and every Tuesday from 6:15 - 7:30pm  in Dennett Private Dining Room, Mission (if you don't have a meal plan we'll cover you, email sjm1 AT williams.edu for more details), except on nights of the monthly math/stats dinner. EVEN THOUGH THE GREEN CHICKEN CONTEST IS OVER FOR '08, WE'LL STILL MEET FOR FUN AND FOR THE PUTNAM.

No meetings the week of thanksgiving, putnam exam is Saturday, December 6th. It'll be an all-day event with food and fun. Cluck will be there to root us on. We'll be in Bronfman 106 (any requests for food / coffee, let me know).

Check out the blog at:  http://blogs.williams.edu/greenchicken/

PUTNAM STRATEGIES (work in progress -- help appreciated!): click here.

The Green Chicken contest is an annual friendly math competition between the math departments of Williams and Middlebury. This year's contest was Saturday, November 1st at Williams, won by Middlebury. In the weeks leading up to and after it, we'll have Math Puzzle Night. These will be fun gatherings where we'll discuss interesting math problems that often lead to both good math as well as practical applications. For example, check out this chess problem (the mathematics behind the elegant solution is used to help airlines create efficient schedules!) as well as this penny riddle (the solution to this is related to efficiently transferring information through the internet!). For more information, contact Professor Miller at Steven.J.Miller AT williams.edu.

Previous Contests        Useful Links        Pictures        Contact Info        History        Results

Previous Contests and related exams / riddles (thanks to F. Zhu for posting)

• Other exams: USA and International Olympiad 2006-2007 (edited by Zuming Feng Yufei Zhao: warning: MUCH harder).
• Steve Miller's riddles page.

Useful links

• Putnam Exam: Problems from 1985 to 2007, solutions from 1995 to 2007; additional problems starting from 1975 are here.
• Useful books:
  • Peter D. Schumer, Mathematical Journeys
  • Kiran S. Kedlaya, Bjorn Poonen, and Ravi Vakil, The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition problems and solutions: 1985 - 2000
  • Gerald L. Alexanderson, Leonard F. Klosinski, Loren C. Larson, The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition problems and solutions: 1965 - 1984
  • Andrew M. Gleason, R. E. Greenwood, Leon M. Kelly, The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition problems and solutions: 1938 - 1964
  • Martin Aigner, Günter M. Ziegler, and K.H. Hofmann, Proofs from THE Book
• Proofs by Induction
• The arithmetic-geometric mean inequality

Pictures

• Green Chicken (circa 2008, thanks to Dick Quinn)
• Brown Chicken (thanks to the Jeromes and some wedding guest)
• 2008 Contest

Contact information: Steven J Miller (Steven.J.Miller AT Williams.edu)

Articles about the green chicken

• Willipedia: History of the Green Chicken Contest       
• North Adams Transcript article: November 22nd, 2000

Results of previous competitions

Previous Contests        Useful Links        Pictures        Contact Info        History        Results