The HMMT (Harvard-MIT Math Tournament) Masters Round is an annual math contest for undergraduates, written by former HMMT directors and problem czars. The contest aims to bring the spirit of competition and the art of problem solving into higher mathematics, with challenging problems in abstract algebra, analysis, topology, combinatorics, calculus, linear algebra, and number theory at the undergraduate level. The Masters Round will consist of a 4 hour, proof-based test with 10 questions of varying difficulty.

Any student currently enrolled in an undergraduate institution is eligible to compete, and awards are given to the top 7 undergraduates. Additionally, there will be prizes awarded for particularly clever or elegant solutions. College graduates may also compete, but they will not be eligible for awards.

The team scoring is as follows. Any undergraduate institution with more than five participating undergraduates automatically becomes a team, and that team comprises all the undergraduates from that school. A school's team score is the sum of the ranks of the top 5 individuals from that school, after all non-team participants are removed from the results. Ties are broken by the 6th place individuals from the respective schools.

Problem submissions from college graduates are welcome. Please send any ideas you may have to hmmt-masters@mit.edu. College graduates are also invited to help grade after the contest on April 2, including those who are competing unofficially, and free dinner will be provided for volunteers.

The second annual Masters Round will be held at Harvard University in the Science Center, Hall A, on April 2, 2011. For details and to sign up, please visit http://hmmt.mit.edu/masters. Hope to see you there!