World’s Toughest Math Exam (2024)

The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition

World’s Toughest Math Exam (1)

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Jan 18, 2022

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World’s Toughest Math Exam (2)

Mathematics is one of my favorite subjects. I love it because it is beautiful, it is logical and we can use it to explain any physical phenomena of the universe. It is the language we use to understand the world around us. It is the language we use to buy and sell things, to measure things, to count things, to compute, and innovate things. But it can be hard sometimes, especially for those of us who do not really understand it, find it tough. When it comes to examinations, it is particularly the subject most of us fear, as it incorporates loads of axioms, theorems, principles, formulae, and geometry.

In this article, I shall be talking about the toughest math exam in the world, The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. It is an annual mathematics competition that takes place in the United States and Canada on the first Saturday of December every year. Even though it takes place in the States, the competition is open for students of all nationalities. It is administered by the Mathematical Association of America. The competition is primarily for undergraduate students, and definitely not for the students who hate math. The Putnam as competition has been going on since 1938. It was established by Elizabeth Lowell Putnam in the love of her husband William Lowell Putnam, an American lawyer who was also an advocate and preacher of inter-college and university of academic competitions.

World’s Toughest Math Exam (3)

It consists of a six-hour-long test. The participants sit for two three-hour sittings separated by a short break to solve a total of 12 mathematical problems each of which are graded from zero to ten point scales making a total of 120 scores. The competition is not just for the individual students but also for the departments of mathematics they come from. In the end, the prizes are awarded to the students as well as the five University Mathematics Departments sum of whose top three scores are the greatest. A student cannot participate in the competition for more than four times as per the association.

World’s Toughest Math Exam (2024)

FAQs

Which is the hardest math exam in the world? ›

Tulsa Okla. — Oral Roberts University's (ORU) undergrad math students competed in the 82nd William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, known as the most complex math test in the world.

What is the hardest math question to answer in the world? ›

For decades, a math puzzle has stumped the smartest mathematicians in the world. x3+y3+z3=k, with k being all the numbers from one to 100, is a Diophantine equation that's sometimes known as "summing of three cubes."

What is the most difficult math subject in the world? ›

Five Most Difficult Topics In Mathematics That Students Fear
  • Calculus. Calculus is the study of integrals, function limits, and derivative combinations for real numbers and their analysis. ...
  • Differential equations and dynamic systems. ...
  • Algebra. ...
  • Combinatory. ...
  • Logic.
Sep 20, 2021

What is the world's longest math problem? ›

Since the 1995 proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, a problem which stood for 365 years, the current longest-standing maths problem is the conjecture posed by Christian Goldbach (1690-1764), a Russian mathematician, in 1742.

What is the top 5 toughest exam in the world? ›

Top 5 World's Toughest Exams: From the article, we can conclude that the Gaokao Exam in China, IIT JEE Advanced, Civil Services Exam (CSE)/UPSC, Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) are the top five toughest exams in world.

What is the most prestigious math exam? ›

Harvard/MIT Mathematics Tournament (HMMT)

One of the largest mathematics competitions in the world, the Harvard/MIT Mathematics Tournament draws hundreds of top-scoring students from around the world. The competition is organized entirely by students at Harvard, MIT, and surrounding schools, including HMMT alumni.

What is the 1 hardest math problem? ›

Today's mathematicians would probably agree that the Riemann Hypothesis is the most significant open problem in all of math. It's one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems, with $1 million reward for its solution.

What are the 7 unsolved mathematics? ›

  • The Riemann Hypothesis.
  • The Yang-Mills Equations.
  • The P vs. NP Problem.
  • The Navier–Stokes equations.
  • The Hodge Conjecture.
  • The Poincaré Conjecture.
  • Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture.

Why is 3X 1 unsolvable? ›

In the 3x+1 problem, no matter what number you start with, you will always eventually reach 1. problem has been shown to be a computationally unsolvable problem.

Which country has hardest math? ›

Clearly India and Korea have the toughest math courses along with china.

Is trigonometry harder than calculus? ›

In general, calculus is considered to be more difficult than trigonometry due to the complexity of the concepts. However, the difficulty level can also depend on your personal strengths, interests, and previous experience with math courses.

What's the hardest math question in the whole entire world? ›

The Riemann Hypothesis holds one of the seven unsolved problems known as the Millennium Prize Problems, each carrying a million-dollar prize for a correct solution. Its inclusion in this prestigious list further emphasizes its status as an unparalleled mathematical challenge.

What math problem has never been solved? ›

1. Riemann Hypothesis. The Riemann Hypothesis, proposed by Bernhard Riemann in 1859, is a central problem in number theory, and discusses the distribution of prime numbers. The hypothesis focuses on the zeros of the Riemann zeta function.

What is the shortest but hardest math problem? ›

The Collatz Conjecture is the simplest math problem no one can solve — it is easy enough for almost anyone to understand but notoriously difficult to solve.

What is the most difficult math type? ›

The most difficult math type is typically abstract mathematics. Abstract mathematics is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract concepts, such as sets, groups, and rings. Abstract mathematics is very challenging because it requires students to think abstractly and reason logically.

Which math level is the hardest? ›

Is it Calculus, Pre-calculus, or something else altogether? While the difficulty of a math course can be subjective and depend on an individual's skills and interests, many people consider Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus BC to be the most challenging high school math course.

What is the most difficult math competition in the world? ›

The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. It is “the most prestigious” mathematical competition in the world. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, except in 1980.

What is the hardest maths exam board? ›

In theory, no exam board should be easier or harder than another. However as we've seen, there are slight differences in how each exam board structures their exams. So if you struggle concentrating for long periods at a stretch, you'll find Eduqas (with the longest exams at two hours, fifteen minutes) tricky.

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