April 09, 2014

Math students shine in international competitions

Each year, Lewis & Clark participates in two highly competitive international mathematical competitions—the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition and the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP) Mathematical Contest in Modeling.

Each year, Lewis & Clark participates in two highly competitive international mathematical competitions—the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition and the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP) Mathematical Contest in Modeling.

The six-hour Putnam competition consists of 12 mathematics problems worth 10 points each and is widely considered to be the world’s toughest math exam. In December 2013, there were 4,113 contestants and the median score was 1 point out of a possible 120.

Twelve Lewis & Clark students participated in this year’s competition, with the top three students scoring a combined total of 50 points. This score placed Lewis & Clark in the top 10 percent of the 557 participating teams. Colin Ehr ’14, Colin Gavin ’15, Kyle Marcano ’14, Jack Nelson ’16, and Aojie Zheng ’15 were all recognized for their accomplishments.

Teams participating in the COMAP modeling contest spent three days researching, modeling, and submitting a solution to a complex problem. Colin Ehr ’14, Derek Janni ’14, and Aojie Zheng ’15 earned a meritorious ranking, placing their team in the top 15 percent out of 6,755 teams from around the world. Dingwen Sun ’15, Yang Zhou ’15, and Jinger Zhu ’15 earned an honorable mention for their team.

“Special congratulations are in order for Colin and Aojie, who participated on both the Putnam and modeling teams, contributing greatly to the success of each one,” said Associate Professor of Mathematical Sciences Iva Stavrov. “Considering that Lewis & Clark is competing against top research universities from across the United States and Canada, this is a very impressive accomplishment.”

Mathematics Department