Course Description: Analyze the most common problem-solving techniques and illustrate their use by interesting examples from past Putnam and Virginia Tech math competitions. Problem solving methods are divided into groups and taught by professors of the math department. After the lecture, students practice writing the solutions for the assignment and have informal discussions in the next class.

Tentative Topics:

• Writing proofs in mathematics
• General strategies for solving math problems
• The box principle
• Number theory
• Geometry
• The induction principle
• Polynomials
• Combinatorics
• Inequalities
• Sequences

Instructor information: The class is taught by members of the Putnam Exam Committee:

• Tien Khai Nguyen
• Peter McGrath
• Irina Kogan
• Semyon Tsynkov
• Ryan Murray
• Dmitry Zenkov
• Zane Li