[cmath] Putnam results in Canada

[Graham Wright]

Putnam 2006: Two Canadian teams among the top ten


Once again, Canadian students have distinguished themselves in the 
annual Putnam Mathematics Competition, held on December 2, 2006. The 
team from the University of Toronto consisting of Tianyi David Han, 
Jaanos Kramar and Viktoriya Krakovna placed fourth, winning for the 
University an award of $10,000 and for each individual $400. The team 
from the University of British Columbia, consisting of Farzin Barekat, 
Cedric Lin and Samuel Wong received an honourable mention.

The highest ranking student at a Canadian institution was Ralph 
Furmaniak of the University of Waterloo, who ranked between 6 and 15 
inclusive. Not far behind was Cedric Lin of the University of British 
Columbia, who ranked between 16 and 26 inclusive. Four students 
received honourable mention (ranking between 27 and 78 inclusive); 
Tianyi David Han and Janos Kramar from the University of Toronto, and 
Tor Gunnar Myklebust and Xiao Heng Wang from the University of 
Waterloo. However, two other Canadian students, both former members of 
the Canadian team in the International Mathematical Olympiad who are 
now at American universities, did well. Yufei Zhao at the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a Putnam Fellow among the top 
five and Peng Shi at Duke University received honourable mention.

Four Canadian universities, McGill, Toronto, Waterloo and British
Columbia had among them fourteen students who placed among the
top 200; half of these came from Waterloo. In all, there were
3640 competitors from 508 tertiary North American institutions,
roughly 2000 of whom received a grade of 0. Students receiving
a grade of 49 or better out of 120 ranked among the top 100.
The Society congratulates these students most heartily for their
achievement.

Edward Barbeau
Chair - CMS Mathematical Competitions Committee