On November 16, eight members of the NPHS Math Team competed in the extremely-challenging and notoriously difficult PuMaC event (Princeton University Math Competition). This year’s team was comprised of Sophomores Sophie Dai, Mingyao Xiao, David Hua and Seniors Sreesha Venkat, Mark Hays, Lotta Blumberg, Andrew Scharf, Jeff Paine. The one-day event was attended by many of the brightest students from not only the country, but the world.
The competition is comprised of two individual tests made up of eight questions each selected from two of four subjects – Algebra, Geometry, Number Theory, and Combinatorics. After the two one hour long tests are completed, the eight team members are allowed to collaborate in a thirty minute team challenge. The twelve-problem team challenge is composed of questions ranging from all of the four subjects.
Once the three intense tests were over, students were allowed the opportunity to relax on the Frist Campus Center North Lawn to enjoy a variety of sandwiches, oversized chocolate chip cookies from the Princeton University Bake Shop, and a selection of drinks. Afterwards, the team took a short walk down Nassau Street to the renowned ice cream store, The Bent Spoon to end the day. I had the opportunity to talk with this year’s team captains, Seniors Sreesha Venkat and Lotta Blumberg about the event.
What did you think of the overall experience at PuMaC?
Sreesha Venkat : We definitely went in with a better idea of what the competition was going to be like, especially after going in cold last year. Lotta and I also wanted to bring some younger members along this year, so that they’d have a better idea of how PUMaC worked for the future.
Lotta Blumberg: This was a second year going to PUMaC and overall, we pretty much met our low expectations for ourselves. It’s a competitive competition with many teams flying in internationally. We show up for fun, and that is indeed how it was.
How did you feel about the problems?
Sreesha Venkat: The problems were really challenging, but our team worked well together, especially during the team round. It was nice to bring along some younger team members too, just so they could get a feel for the competition earlier.
Lotta Blumberg: The problems are once again difficult, but also interesting. Oftentimes in such competitions, the problems are boring and similar to other problems. At PUMaC, the problems are written by Princeton students and they are legitimately interesting problems, even if beyond our level to solve. One of my favorite problems from last year, for instance was a questions about 3 trains on perpendicular major circular tracks going around a sphere. This year, there was a great combinatorics questions about boarding an airplane. They are interesting problems to think about, even if we cannot necessarily solve them.
What advice do you have for future PuMaC test takers?
Sreesha Venkat: It’s great if you want to prepare for the tests at PUMaC, but you definitely shouldn’t take the competition too seriously. Take some time to hang out with other teams that come from all over the world, and explore Princeton’s campus a little more.
Lotta Blumberg: Generally speaking, PUMaC is far over our head to take seriously from a school such as ours. The competition includes private schools of thousands, rich enough to fly in for one weekend. We’re the school that shows up just to hang out, have a good time, and go to the Bent Spoon (great ice cream!). My advice would therefore be not to get caught up with the score and just have a good time hanging out with friends at one of the best universities in the world.