Math Competitions

Competitions

Every year, several dozen Duke undergraduates participate in the Virginia Tech and Putnam math competitions. See recent and past competition honors received by Duke Undergraduates in these competitions.

Triangle Competition in Math Modeling (TriCoMM)

In this local contest, students work in teams of three to solve a real-world problem using mathematical and computational modeling. For part of a weekend in November, they tackle open-ended questions such as how to identify partisan gerrymandering or how to best triage patients infected with a virus. This experience offers valuable research and team-work experience, as well as ample feedback and the opportunity to practice for the Math/Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling, which is an international competition.

For more information about this year's local competition, visit TriCoMM.

Duke Math Meet

The Duke Math Meet (DMM) is a regional mathematics competition for high school students held at Duke University each year. The contest is organized by the members of the Duke University Mathematics Union (DUMU), and is sponsored by the Duke Mathematics department.

The DMM lasts for one day from morning to afternoon, during which the students have fun solving challenging mathematics problems while making many new friends with contestants from other schools and states.

For more information, visit Duke Math Meet.

Problem Solving Seminars

The department offers two half-credit seminars.

Math 281S:  The aim of this seminar is to develop problem solving skills through fun and challenging problems, many of which will require some creativity to solve. It is also an informal tour of mathematics as each week we will focus on a different topic.  Prerequisites are minimal, but instructor permission is required.  (See DukeHub for instructor.)

Math 283S:  The Advanced Problem Solving Seminar is designed for students who enjoy math competitions and have had experience in state and national competitions at the high school or collegiate level at the level of the American Invitational Math Exam AIME. Students are required to take various math competitions, including the WL Putnam, and to help create and grade problems for the Duke Math Meet.  Interested students should contact Professor Kraines (dkrain@math.duke.edu)