The William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition is the most prestigious undergraduate mathematics problem-solving contest in North America, with thousands of students taking part every year. This volume presents the contest problems for the years 2001-2016. The heart of the book is the solutions; these include multiple approaches, drawn from many sources, plus insights into navigating from the problem statement to a solution. There is also a section of hints, to encourage readers to engage deeply with the problems before consulting the solutions. The authors have a distinguished history of engagement with, and preparation of students for, the Putnam and other mathematical competitions. Collectively they have been named Putnam Fellow (top five finisher) ten times. Kiran Kedlaya also maintains the online Putnam Archive.

This is a textbook on proof writing in the area of analysis, balancing a survey of the core concepts of mathematical proof with a tight, rigorous examination of the specific tools needed for an understanding of analysis. Instead of the standard "transition" approach to teaching proofs, wherein students are taught fundamentals of logic, given some common proof strategies such as mathematical induction, and presented with a series of well-written proofs to mimic, this textbook teaches what a student needs to be thinking about when trying to construct a proof. Covering the fundamentals of analysis sufficient for a typical beginning Real Analysis course, it never loses sight of the fact that its primary focus is about proof writing skills.This book aims to give the student precise training in the writing of proofs by explaining exactly what elements make up a correct proof, how one goes about constructing an acceptable proof, and, by learning to recognize a correct proof, how to avoid writing incorrect proofs. To this end, all proofs presented in this text are preceded by detailed explanations describing the thought process one goes through when constructing the proof. Over 150 example proofs, templates, and axioms are presented alongside full-color diagrams to elucidate the topics at hand.

This is a textbook on proof writing in the area of analysis, balancing a survey of the core concepts of mathematical proof with a tight, rigorous examination of the specific tools needed for an understanding of analysis. Instead of the standard "transition" approach to teaching proofs, wherein students are taught fundamentals of logic, given some common proof strategies such as mathematical induction, and presented with a series of well-written proofs to mimic, this textbook teaches what a student needs to be thinking about when trying to construct a proof. Covering the fundamentals of analysis sufficient for a typical beginning Real Analysis course, it never loses sight of the fact that its primary focus is about proof writing skills.This book aims to give the student precise training in the writing of proofs by explaining exactly what elements make up a correct proof, how one goes about constructing an acceptable proof, and, by learning to recognize a correct proof, how to avoid writing incorrect proofs. To this end, all proofs presented in this text are preceded by detailed explanations describing the thought process one goes through when constructing the proof. Over 150 example proofs, templates, and axioms are presented alongside full-color diagrams to elucidate the topics at hand.

The William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition is the most prestigious undergraduate mathematics problem-solving contest in North America, with thousands of students taking part every year. This volume presents the contest problems for the years 2001-2016. The heart of the book is the solutions; these include multiple approaches, drawn from many sources, plus insights into navigating from the problem statement to a solution. There is also a section of hints, to encourage readers to engage deeply with the problems before consulting the solutions. The authors have a distinguished history of engagement with, and preparation of students for, the Putnam and other mathematical competitions. Collectively they have been named Putnam Fellow (top five finisher) ten times. Kiran Kedlaya also maintains the online Putnam Archive.

This is a textbook on proof writing in the area of analysis, balancing a survey of the core concepts of mathematical proof with a tight, rigorous examination of the specific tools needed for an understanding of analysis. Instead of the standard "transition" approach to teaching proofs, wherein students are taught fundamentals of logic, given some common proof strategies such as mathematical induction, and presented with a series of well-written proofs to mimic, this textbook teaches what a student needs to be thinking about when trying to construct a proof. Covering the fundamentals of analysis sufficient for a typical beginning Real Analysis course, it never loses sight of the fact that its primary focus is about proof writing skills.This book aims to give the student precise training in the writing of proofs by explaining exactly what elements make up a correct proof, how one goes about constructing an acceptable proof, and, by learning to recognize a correct proof, how to avoid writing incorrect proofs. To this end, all proofs presented in this text are preceded by detailed explanations describing the thought process one goes through when constructing the proof. Over 150 example proofs, templates, and axioms are presented alongside full-color diagrams to elucidate the topics at hand.

This is a textbook on proof writing in the area of analysis, balancing a survey of the core concepts of mathematical proof with a tight, rigorous examination of the specific tools needed for an understanding of analysis. Instead of the standard "transition" approach to teaching proofs, wherein students are taught fundamentals of logic, given some common proof strategies such as mathematical induction, and presented with a series of well-written proofs to mimic, this textbook teaches what a student needs to be thinking about when trying to construct a proof. Covering the fundamentals of analysis sufficient for a typical beginning Real Analysis course, it never loses sight of the fact that its primary focus is about proof writing skills.This book aims to give the student precise training in the writing of proofs by explaining exactly what elements make up a correct proof, how one goes about constructing an acceptable proof, and, by learning to recognize a correct proof, how to avoid writing incorrect proofs. To this end, all proofs presented in this text are preceded by detailed explanations describing the thought process one goes through when constructing the proof. Over 150 example proofs, templates, and axioms are presented alongside full-color diagrams to elucidate the topics at hand.