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Let\u2019s talk numbers.<\/p>\n
4,329 students. 487 institutions. 12 problems. 6 hours. A median score of 0 to 2 points out of 120.<\/p>\n
Those are the numbers behind the most prestigious undergraduate mathematics exam in North America\u2014the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition\u2014where one Santa Clara University student\u2019s impressive score of 30 put him in the top 500 students nationally.<\/p>\n
But if you ask Sarthak Dassarma \u201926, his biggest hope during this year\u2019s Putnam Competition was not about getting a certain score, it was about being better able to think deeply about the concepts in the time given. For him, math is always about more than just numbers.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery math class is a bit of a story,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is the journey you\u2019re taking\u2014you\u2019re learning these things, and then you get to apply them later on.\u201d<\/p>\n
That philosophy started at home when Dassarma\u2019s father handed him books of challenging math puzzles long before any classroom did. He considers himself privileged that his family cultivated that curiosity, so math became something to explore, not something to fear.<\/p>\n
Sarthak took a few stops before finding the right fit for college, including a community college and a large state school. But, when he arrived at Santa Clara, he found an environment that matched those values\u2014small classes led by faculty who prized genuine understanding over rote repetition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in theories instead of theorems,\u201d Dassarma says. \u201cWhen I see math problems today, I ask myself, \u2018Am I able to grasp the whole story?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Three math myths\u2014debunked<\/p>\n
When it comes to telling a story, Dassarma is passionate about the details. Who tells that story? Who\u2019s invited in? What does it get used for?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Across his experiences in high school math club and weekly problem seminars at Santa Clara, Dassarma has thought about math\u2019s story deeply, and he thinks we\u2019re getting some key chapters wrong.<\/p>\n
The first misconception: that some people are simply math people, and others aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think mathematics can be for everyone,\u201d he says. \u201cBut access isn\u2019t equal, and pretending otherwise does real harm.\u201d<\/p>\n
He points to classrooms where math is taught through rote memorization, word problems populated with names that don\u2019t reflect the students reading them, and math clubs that skew heavily male.<\/p>\n
The second myth: that math is an objective subject. According to Dassarma, who math is taught to and how it gets used in the world are deeply intertwined.<\/p>\n
\u201cMath can actually drive a lot of the inequality in this world,\u201d he says, pointing to gerrymandering as a pointed example of mathematical tools deployed to entrench power. \u201cIt\u2019s no use being good at something if you\u2019re not going to make the community better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The third myth: that mathematics is a solitary pursuit, the domain of lone geniuses working in isolation. Dassarma finds this almost funny, as most mathematics publishing is done in partners or a team of people.<\/p>\n
Plus, he recalls, one of the best moments after this year\u2019s Putnam came from standing around after the test with a fellow student and a professor, all three of them puzzling over a matrix problem none of them could fully crack.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing how many times ideas get shared,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of mathematics\u2014we tell the story together.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Putnam play-by-play<\/p>\n
The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition splits into two three-hour sessions, each with six problems ranked roughly by difficulty. Most students\u2014even exceptional ones like Dassarma\u2014solve only a handful. The goal isn\u2019t perfection. It\u2019s about your ability to creatively problem-solve on the fly.<\/p>\n
Here, Dassarma takes us deep into one of his favorite problems from this year\u2019s exam.<\/p>\n
Imagine the entire XY coordinate plane, every point colored either red or green. Now add one rule: if a circle passes through three points of the same color, its center must be that color too. Prove that, under this condition, every point on the plane has to be the same color. No mixing allowed.<\/p>\n
His weapon of choice: proof by contradiction. Assume the opposite is true, follow the logic until it collapses on itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the sassiest way to prove something,\u201d he says. \u201cYou just go: okay, fine, let\u2019s say your claim is true. Let\u2019s show how ridiculous this looks.” He grins. \u201cI feel very \u2018slay\u2019 when I write a contradiction proof.\u201d<\/p>\n
The limit does not exist<\/p>\n
This spring, Dassarma graduates from Santa Clara and plans to head east to pursue a master\u2019s in Applied and Computational Mathematics. After that, he hopes to work as a quantitative financial analyst where his love of stochastic math\u2014the study of randomness\u2014and his fascination with financial markets converge. The appeal, he says, isn\u2019t that this field gives you the answers. It\u2019s that it gives you a better way to ask the questions.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s still figuring out whether he\u2019d like to take the research or developer path in quant analysis, as each requires a different mix of math, computer science, and financial knowledge. So, his plan is characteristically his own: get better at all of it, and let his niche reveal itself.<\/p>\n
Before he goes, he has one message for students considering the Putnam: try it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very rare that you\u2019re truly allowed to sit for a long time with your thoughts,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s zero pressure. You just do what you want, have fun, and think about the problems. And of course, enjoy the free pizza.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s talk numbers. 4,329 students. 487 institutions. 12 problems. 6 hours. A median score of 0 to 2…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":{"0":"post-277538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-san-jose","9":"tag-san-jose-headlines","10":"tag-san-jose-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}