2021 Baylor Putnam Team
On Saturday, December 4, 2021 seven Baylor students participated in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. On a typical year, over 4000 students representing over 500 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada take the Putnam Exam. Known as one of the most difficult mathematical exams worldwide, on many years the median score is 0! (Both ways of reading that are correct.) In the late spring these students will learn how they placed nationally.
Highlights from this year’s exam include:
Problem A3: Determine all positive integers N for which the sphere x^2 + y^2 + z^2 = N has an inscribed regular tetrahedron whose vertices have integer coordinates.
Problem A6: Let P(x) be a polynomial whose coefficients are all either 0 or 1. Suppose that P(x) can be written as a product of two nonconstant polynomials with integer coefficients. Does it follow that P(2) is a composite integer?
