back to Walter Stromquist's page
This is the home page for the problem seminar that meets Thursdays from 5pm to 6pm+ in the Function Space (Park 328).
10/15/04 - The topic for Thursday, Oct. 21 is Euler's formula, V-E+F=2. We'll do other problems about polyhedra if there is time. Here's the handout. It's a 2-page word document, but it doesn't have Mathtype formulas and the graphics don't matter so you can view it on a Mac.
A representative problem: Show that, given 5 points in a plane, you can't connect each pair with a smooth curve without any of the curves crossing. (You probably know that, but do you know a cute, clean proof?)
Here's a link to the Putnam Archive Site, http://www.unl.edu/amc/a-activities/a7-problems/putnam/ . It has problems and solutions in several formats; PDF is probably easiest.
Other documents:
PolynomialsOct7.doc -- problems about polynomials (WORD document with Mathtype formulas)
putnamannouncementbmc.doc -- posted announcement of the problem seminar (WORD document, 1 page)