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Anonymous Wed 24 Mar 01:20:00 2021 No.12874893 View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>12874935 >>12875080 >>12876366

If you're 18-23, is the Putnam exam the best way to tell if you're actually smart? It's basically an IQ test but math only

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 24 Mar 2021 01:31:55 No.12874935 Report

Quoted By: >>12874972

>>12874893
The Putnam Exam is a waste of time you could be using studying

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 24 Mar 2021 01:40:56 No.12874972 Report

Quoted By: >>12874981 >>12876430

>>12874935
if you need to study for the putnam you've already lost. Feynman got the best score in the nation without even trying.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 24 Mar 2021 01:42:47 No.12874981 Report

Quoted By:

>>12874972
Wow
Feynman just popped out of his mother knowing advance math?
What a feat
Studying in the womb

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 24 Mar 2021 02:17:21 No.12875080 Report

Quoted By:

>>12874893
A quick estimate for you:
Roughly 2000+ people take the exam each year with a possible score of 0-10. The number who get 0 correct is 1/2, or 1,000 people, and each score 1 greater is 1/2 of that, so 500 people get 1 right, 250 get 2, 125 get 3, 62 get 4, 31 get 5, 16 get 6, 8 get 7, 4 get 8, 2 get 9 and maybe 1 or 2 people get all 10. It's common for the high score to be an 8.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 24 Mar 2021 11:20:33 No.12876366 Report

Quoted By:

>>12874893
Putnam exams have lots of creative problems in various categories, it tends to be better than many competitions designed for lower levels as it does not rely so heavily on number theory and combinatorics.

Doing well on it would certainly indicate that you have good mathematical problem solving skills, doing badly is not necessarily an good indicator of your level though.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 24 Mar 2021 11:48:52 No.12876424 Report

Quoted By:

I remember taking the Putnam early on in college. At that point in time I'd just started getting into proof-based courses, but your standard beginning proofs courses won't really help you much with it. It struck me as a test that you could actually study for, but you'd have to go out of your way to be prepared for it unless you're Richard Feynman or something (but I seriously doubt he just waltzed in and tripped his way into a perfect score without knowing any proof techniques, like it wasn't derived all on the spot). All the winning institutions train their students for it, so I don't know how good a measure it is of anything since you can just be shown all the standard "tricks" in some kind of Putnam course at Hahvahd

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 24 Mar 2021 11:51:31 No.12876430 Report

Quoted By: >>12876438

>>12874972
And yet he proudly points to his mediocre 125 IQ as proof that natural talent doesn't matter
Why are genetic lottery winners like this?

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 24 Mar 2021 11:55:23 No.12876438 Report

Quoted By:

>>12876430
I mean let's say somebody's 125IQ, but they dedicate nearly all of their time to math and physics. Of course they'd do well on the Putnam exam, especially if they directly studied for it.

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