Mathlete
Encyclopedia
Top mathletes in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
compete on the AIME
American Invitational Mathematics Examination
The American Invitational Mathematics Examination is a 15-question 3-hour test given since 1983 to those who rank in the top 5% on the AMC 12 high school mathematics contest , and starting in 2010, those who rank in the top 2.5% on the AMC 10.The AIME is the second of two tests used to determine...
, USAMO
United States of America Mathematical Olympiad
The United States of America Mathematical Olympiad is a high school mathematics competition held annually in the United States. Since its debut in 1972, it has served as the final round of the AMC series of contests...
, and ARML
American Regions Mathematics League
The American Regions Mathematics League , is an annual high school mathematics team competition held simultaneously at four locations in the United States: the University of Iowa, Penn State, UNLV, and the newly added site at the University of Georgia. Past sites have included San Jose and at Duke...
. Those in other countries generally participate in national olympiads to qualify for the International Mathematical Olympiad
International Mathematical Olympiad
The International Mathematical Olympiad is an annual six-problem, 42-point mathematical olympiad for pre-collegiate students and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, except in 1980...
.
Participants in World Math Day are commonly referred to as mathletes.
Mathletic Competitions
The Putnam Exam: The William Lowell Putnam Competition is the preeminent undergraduate level mathletic competition. Administered by the Mathematical Association of AmericaMathematical Association of America
The Mathematical Association of America 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;...
, students compete as individuals and as teams (as chosen by their Institution) for scholarships and team prize money. The exam is administered on the first Saturday in December.
The GRE Subject Test: While some may think of the Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
GRE Subject Test as an individual examination, it is truly a struggle of one versus many. When graduate programs evaluate an individual they are not considered apart from every other student. Teaching fellowships and other funding can only go to a limited number of students and each institution seeks to maximize its return on investment by selecting the best available candidate for their program.
Mathletic Off-season training
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'sMathematical Association of America
The Mathematical Association of America 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;...
The American Mathematical Monthly and the AMS's
American Mathematical Society
The American Mathematical Society is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, which it does with various publications and conferences as well as annual monetary awards and prizes to mathematicians.The society is one of the...
Notices of the American Mathematical Society
Notices of the American Mathematical Society
Notices of the American Mathematical Society is a membership magazine of the American Mathematical Society, published monthly except for the combined June/July issue. It is the world's most widely read mathematics magazine, sent to the approximately 30,000 AMS members worldwide...
are widely read to maintain and hone mathematical ability. Some coaches
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
suggest seeking research internships or grants, many of which are funded by the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
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At higher levels, mathletes can obtain funding from host institutions to work on summer research projects. For example, the University of Delaware
University of Delaware
The university is organized into seven colleges:* College of Agriculture and Natural Resources* College of Arts and Sciences* Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics* College of Earth, Ocean and Environment* College of Education and Human Development...
offers the Groups Exploring the Mathematical Sciences project (GEMS project) to first year graduate students. The students act as the principle investigator and work with a undergraduate research assistant and a faculty adviser who will oversee their summer research.