The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(March 2024) |
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A mathlete is a person who competes in mathematics competitions at any level or any age. The definition may be extended to computer programming competitions, as well. The term is a portmanteau of the words mathematics and athlete. Mathletics is a mind sport.
Mathlete is a registered trademark of the MATHCOUNTS Foundation in the United States, [1] and identifies a student who participates in any of the MATHCOUNTS programs. Top Mathletes from MATHCOUNTS often go on to compete in the AIME, USAMO, and ARML competitions in the United States. Those in other countries generally participate in national olympiads to qualify for the International Mathematical Olympiad.
Participants in World Math Day also are commonly referred to as mathletes.
The Putnam Exam: The William Lowell Putnam Competition is the preeminent undergraduate level mathletic competition in North America.[ citation needed ] Administered by the Mathematical Association of America, students compete as individuals and as teams (as chosen by their Institution) for scholarships and team prize money. The exam is annually administered on the first Saturday in December. [2]
The academic off-season (traditionally referred to as "summer") can be especially difficult on mathletes, though various training regimens have been proposed to keep mathletic ability at its peak. Publications such as the MAA's The American Mathematical Monthly and the AMS's Notices of the American Mathematical Society are widely read to maintain and hone mathematical ability. Some coaches suggest seeking research internships or grants, many of which are funded by the National Science Foundation.
At higher levels, mathletes can obtain funding from host institutions to work on summer research projects. For example, the University of Delaware offers the Groups Exploring the Mathematical Sciences project (GEMS project) to first year graduate students. [3] The students act as the principal investigator and work with an undergraduate research assistant and a faculty adviser who will oversee their summer research.
The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure and applied mathematicians; computer scientists; statisticians; and many others in academia, government, business, and industry.
The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, often abbreviated to Putnam Competition, is an annual mathematics competition for undergraduate college students enrolled at institutions of higher learning in the United States and Canada. It awards a scholarship and cash prizes ranging from $250 to $2,500 for the top students and $5,000 to $25,000 for the top schools, plus one of the top five individual scorers is awarded a scholarship of up to $12,000 plus tuition at Harvard University, the top 100 individual scorers have their names mentioned in the American Mathematical Monthly, and the names and addresses of the top 500 contestants are mailed to all participating institutions. It is widely considered to be the most prestigious university-level mathematics competition in the world, and its difficulty is such that the median score is often zero or one despite being primarily attempted by students specializing in mathematics.
Mathcounts, stylized as MATHCOUNTS, is a non-profit organization that provides grades 6-8 extracurricular mathematics programs in all U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and U.S. Virgin Islands. Its mission is to provide engaging math programs for middle school students of all ability levels to build confidence and improve attitudes about math and problem solving.
The Canadian Mathematical Society is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research, outreach, scholarship and education in Canada. It serves the national community through the publication of academic journals, community bulletins, and the administration of mathematical competitions.
Reid William Barton is a mathematician and also one of the most successful performers in the International Science Olympiads.
Richard Rusczyk is the founder and chief executive officer of Art of Problem Solving Inc. and a co-author of the Art of Problem Solving textbooks. Rusczyk was a national Mathcounts participant in 1985, and he won the USA Math Olympiad (USAMO) in 1989. He is one of the co-creators of the Mandelbrot Competition, and the director of the USA Mathematical Talent Search (USAMTS). He also founded the San Diego Math Circle.
Gabriel Drew Carroll is a Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto. He was born to tech industry worker parents in Oakland. He graduated from Harvard University with B.A. in mathematics and linguistics in 2005 and received his doctorate in economics from MIT in 2012. He was recognized as a child prodigy and received numerous awards in mathematics while a student.
Arthur Leonard Rubin is an American mathematician and aerospace engineer. He was named a Putnam Fellow on four consecutive occasions from 1970 to 1973.
Bhaskaracharya Pratishthana is a research and education institute for mathematics in Pune, India, founded by noted Indian-American mathematician professor Shreeram Abhyankar. The institute is named after the great ancient Indian Mathematician Bhaskaracharya. It was founded in 1976. It has researchers working in many areas of mathematics, particularly in algebra and number theory.
Daniel Mertz Kane is an American mathematician. He is a full professor with a joint position in the Mathematics Department and the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the University of California, San Diego.
Jordan Stuart Ellenberg is an American mathematician who is a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research involves arithmetic geometry. He is also an author of both fiction and non-fiction writing.
Lenhard Ng is an American mathematician, working primarily on symplectic geometry. Ng is a professor of mathematics at Duke University.
Alison Beth Miller is an American mathematician who was the first American female gold medalist at the International Mathematical Olympiad. She also holds the distinction of placing in the top 16 of the Putnam Competition four times, the last three of which were recognized by the Elizabeth Lowell Putnam award for outstanding performance by a woman on the contest.
The Integration Bee is an annual integral calculus competition pioneered in 1981 by Andy Bernoff, an applied mathematics student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Similar contests are administered each year in many universities and colleges across the United States and in a number of other countries.
Ioana Dumitriu is a Romanian-American mathematician who works as a professor of mathematics at the University of California, San Diego. Her research interests include the theory of random matrices, numerical analysis, scientific computing, and game theory.
Julia Pevtsova is a Russian-American mathematician who works as a professor of mathematics at the University of Washington. Her research concerns representation theory and in particular modular representation theory.
Anne Lester Hudson is an American mathematician and mathematics educator. Her research specialty is the theory of topological semigroups; she is also known for her skill at mathematical problem-solving, and has coached students to success in both the International Mathematical Olympiad and the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. She is a professor emeritus at the Georgia Southern University-Armstrong Campus.
Zhuo Qun Song, also called Alex Song, is a Chinese-Canadian who is currently the most highly decorated International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) contestant, with five gold medals and one bronze medal.
Andrew He is an American competitive programmer and the winner of the 2021 Facebook Hacker Cup.