The six students who participated in the Putnam Competition stand in descending score order from left to right.
Courtesy | David Gaebler

Math students smashed school records and ranked third statewide in the 84th annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition.

The Putnam is a six-hour long exam, taken in two sessions, held on the first Saturday of December at institutions around the country. It consists of 12 math problems, worth up to 10 points each. Students are ranked both nationally and statewide on individual and team scores.

Hillsdale College ranked third in Michigan below Michigan State University and the University of Michigan with a team score of 66 points, breaking the school team’s record set in 2018 of 39 points.

Freshman Andrew Schmidt surpassed the previous individual school record of 18 points set by Ben Becker ’21 in 2017, with a score of 41, ranking 176th nationally out of almost 4,000 participants. 

All six students who participated in the competition solved at least one problem and scored at least 9 points. 

According to David Gaebler, associate professor of mathematics, most Hillsdale participants have not solved any problems.

“In the past during a typical year at Hillsdale we would have three or four people compete,” Gaebler said. “Maybe one person got 10 points or one problem, but most people walked away with a zero. This year all six participants got a problem, which is something to have fireworks about.”

Schmidt said he was thrilled to solve four problems on the exam.

“I was hoping to lock in one problem in both sessions,” Schmidt said. “That was my ‘I’ll be happy with that’ goal. And then to get two per session was my audacious goal. So I was really happy when I hit my audacious goal, and then I was super excited to get the score and to have it on paper.”

Gaebler said Schmidt’s achievement demonstrates exceptional talent. 

“Andrew individually is on a whole different level,” Gaebler said. “He’s in the top 200 nationally. Most of the people ahead of him are from Harvard, MIT. So he’s at a kind of elite level. His score could go up in future years.”

According to Schmidt, math problems on the Putnam are notoriously difficult.

“It’s really hard,” Schmidt said. “You don’t take it if you don’t want it to be hard. In math class, you can coast by and write down theorems without actually understanding them, but the Putnam involves playing around with theorems and trying to prove them, which is like research in a condensed format.”

Gaebler said the students who took the Putnam think differently from most math students.

“They are all very good at taking classes but also something extra,” Gaebler said. “Being good at class doesn’t always translate to being good at the Putnam. They tend to have a lot of bursting curiosity about everything around them, the sort of person who thinks about math problems in their spare time and in most cases have been doing that for a while.”

Schmidt said he has had this kind of curiosity about math since he was young. 

“I’ve always liked math,” Schmidt said. “When I was little, math was my favorite subject. I would do things for fun that were mathy. When I was young, I had a really hard time falling asleep, so I would do math every evening to calm myself down.”

Schmidt said the key to solving Putnam problems is constantly writing with your pencil.

“You have to go in with the mindset of ‘I’m going to look at this problem and I am going to think to myself, that looks really hard. I have no idea how to solve that,’” Schmidt said. “You always want to be engaging with a problem in some way, even if it doesn’t feel like you’re making progress.”

Junior Jonah Murray was the runner-up among Hillsdale students, scoring a total of 13 points. He said he solves Putnam problems by attempting different methods until he finds one that works.

“I try to approach a problem and look for anything that would get me closer to solving the problem,” Murray said. “They are often just looking for things to simplify.”

Murray said students addicted to problem-solving should take the exam.

“If you like attempting problems for six hours and probably not getting anywhere, then it would be great,” Murray said. 

Schmidt compared tackling the Putnam to playing sports.

“When you go into a sports game, you’re going in wanting to win, but knowing it’s definitely not a guarantee,” Schmidt said. “You want that mindset of ‘this is a very formidable opponent.’ And then just play around with the numbers.”