Calvin student, GR Christian grad, was a top scorer on prestigious national math competition

Ethan Van Andel, a mathematics and computer science double major at Calvin, scored a 46 at the 71st William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, which is considered the most prestigious and challenging math competition in North America.

See full story: http://www.calvin.edu/news/archive/a-problem-solver-and-the-putnam

Van Andel's score of 46 on the 2010 Putnam is one of the best scores ever posted by a Calvin student and it placed him in the top 250 of all participants continent-wide. The competition is open to all college students from across North America.

"The students that do well on the Putnam are some of the best minds in the nation, in fact, in the world," said Calvin mathematics professor Chris Moseley.

According to Moseley any score above a 10 on the Putnam is noteworthy. And at the most recent competition this past December, four Calvin students scored a 10 or better. Van Andel's 46 led the way, followed by senior mathematics major Jim Hays' 28, and juniors Ben Lewis, a math and physics double major, and Ed Smilde, an engineering major, each scoring a 10.

The Putnam consists of 12 problems, each worth 10 points. Students work on six problems during a three-hour period. Then take a break. Then work three more hours on six new problems. Moseley broke down the scoring this way: An 8 out of 10 on a regular math test would equate to, at most, a 2 out of 10 on the Putnam. A Putnam judge typically assigns each problem a score of 0,1,2,8,9 or 10.

A 1 or 2 means the student receives partial credit. "You know what you are talking about, but you've missed one or two key steps," describes Van Andel. Whereas an 8 or 9 would be given "if you have everything right except you have a sign error or something like that," he said.

And a 10 is reserved for only a perfect solution.

For more information, contact Moseley at cgm3@calvin.edu or at 616-526-6352.

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Received on Mon Apr 25 09:18:54 2011