Madison Math Circle

What is a Math Circle?

The Madison Math Circle is a weekly series of mathematically based activities aimed at interested middle school and high school students. It is an outreach program organized by the UW Math Department. Our goal is to provide a taste of exciting ideas in math and science. In the past we've had talks about plasma and weather in outer space, video game graphics, and encryption. In the sessions, students (and parents) are often asked to explore problems on their own, with the presenter facilitating a discussion. The talks are independent of one another, so new students are welcome at any point.

The level of the audience varies quite widely, including a mix of middle school and high school students, and the speakers generally address this by considering subjects that will be interesting for a wide range of students.

After each talk we'll have pizza provided by the Mathematics Department, and students will have an opportunity to mingle and chat with the speaker and with other participants, to ask questions about some of the topics that have been discussed, and also about college, careers in science, etc.

The Madison Math circle was featured in Wisconsin State Journal: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/local_schools/school-spotlight-madison-math-circle-gives-young-students-a-taste/article_77f5c042-0b3d-11e1-ba5f-001cc4c03286.html

All right, I want to come!

We have a weekly meeting, Monday at 6pm in 3255 Helen C White Library, during the school year. New students are welcome at any point! There is no fee and the talks are independent of one another, so you can just show up any week, but we ask all participants to take a moment to register by following the link below:

Math Circle Registration Form

All of you information is kept private, and is only used by the Madison Math Circle organizer to help run the Circle.

If you are a student, we hope you will tell other interested students about these talks, and speak with your parents or with your teacher about organizing a car pool to the UW campus. If you are a parent or a teacher, we hope you'll tell your students about these talks and organize a car pool to the UW (all talks take place in 3255 Helen C White Library, on the UW-Madison campus, right next to the Memorial Union).

Directions and parking

Meetings are held in 3255 Helen C. White Hall.

Parking. Parking on campus is rather limited. Here is as list of some options:

• There is a parking garage in the basement of Helen C. White, with an hourly rate. Enter from Park Street.
• A 0.5 mile walk to Helen C. White Hall via these directions, many spots (free starting 4:30pm) in Lot 26 along Observatory Drive.
• A 0.3 mile walk to Helen C. White Hall via these directions, many spots (free starting 4:30pm) in Lot 34.
• A 0.3 mile walk to Helen C. White Hall via these directions, 2 metered spots (25 minute max) in front of Lathrop Hall.
• A 0.2 mile walk to Helen C. White Hall via these directions 6 metered spots (25 minute max) around the loop in front of Chadbourne Hall .
• For more information, see the UW-Madison Parking Info website.

Email list

The best way to keep up to date with the what is going is by signing up for our email list: https://lists.math.wisc.edu/listinfo/math-circle

Contact the organizers

If you have any questions, suggestions for topics, or so on, just email the organizers (DJ Bruce, Gheorghe Craciun, Eva Elduque Daniel Erman, Ryan Julian, and Philip Matchett Wood): math-circle-organizers@math.wisc.edu. We are always interested in feedback!

Donations

Please consider donating to the Madison Math Circle. As noted in our annual report, our main costs consist of pizza and occasional supplies for the speakers. Our costs have been covered so far by donations from the UW Math Department plus generous gifts from a private donor. But our costs are rising, primarily because this year we expect to hold more meetings than in any previous year. In fact, this year, we expect to spend at least $2500 on pizza and supplies alone.

So please consider donating to support your math circle! The easiest way to donate is to go to the link:

Online Donation Link

There are instructions on that page for donating to the Math Department. Be sure and add a Gift Note saying that the donation is intended for the "Madison Math Circle"! The money goes into the Mathematics Department Annual Fund and is routed through the University of Wisconsin Foundation, which is convenient for record-keeping, etc.

Alternately, you can bring a check to one of the Math Circle Meetings. If you write a check, be sure to make it payable to the "WFAA" and add the note "Math Circle Donation" on the check.

Or you can just pay in cash, and we'll give you a receipt.

Help us grow!

If you like Math Circle, please help us continue to grow! Students, parents, and teachers can help by:

• Posting our flyer at schools or anywhere that might have interested students
• Discussing the Math Circle with students, parents, teachers, administrators, and others
• Making an announcement about Math Circle at PTO meetings
• Donating to Math Circle

Contact the organizers if you have questions or your own ideas about how to help out.

Meetings for Fall 2015 and Spring 2016

All talks start at 6pm in room 3255 of Helen C. White Library, unless otherwise noted.

Fall 2015
Date	Speaker	Topic
September 14, 2015	David Sondak	How to SEE Sound
September 21, 2015	Prof. Uri Andrews	Guarding Mona Lisa
September 28, 2015	Eva Elduque	Pick's Theorem
October 5, 2015	Jessica Lin	The Math of Sudoku
October 12, 2015	Ryan Julian	Eight Dimensional Oranges
October 19, 2015	Keith Rush	CANCELLED
October 26, 2015	Megan Maguire	Aperiodic tilings: Beyond your parents' bathroom floor
November 2, 2015	Marko Budisic	Mathematics of GPS satellites
November 9, 2015	Tess Anderson	Gold Coins and Goats
November 16, 2015	DJ Bruce	To Infinity And Beyond?
November 23, 2015	Prof. Tullia Dymarz (Last meeting of fall)	TBA
Spring 2016
Date	Speaker	Topic
February 1, 2016	Will Mitchell	Are these networks the same?
February 8, 2016	Lalit Jain	TBA
February 15, 2016	Prof. Jordan Ellenberg	TBA
February 22, 2016	Soumya Sankar	TBA
February 29, 2016	Alexandra (Sashka) Kjuchukova	TBA
March 7, 2016	Alisha Zachariah	TBA
March 14, 2016	Chiara Franceschini	TBA
March 21, 2016	No Meeting (Spring Break)
March 28, 2016	No Meeting (Spring Break)
April 4, 2016	Becky Eastham	TBA
April 11, 2016	Andrew Kidd	TBA
April 18, 2016	Solly Parenti	TBA
April 25, 2016	Prof. Betsy Stovall	TBA
May 2, 2016	Jen Beichman	TBA

High School Meetings

We are experimenting with holding some Math Circle meetings directly at local high schools. Our schedule for the fall is below. If you are interesting in having us come to your high school, please contact us!

Fall 2015
Date	Location	Speaker	Topic	Link for more info
September 28, 2015	2:45pm East High	Daniel Erman	How to Catch a (data) thief
October 19, 2015	2:45pm East High	Carolyn Abbott	Donuts and Coffee Cups
Spring 2016
Date	Location	Speaker	Topic	Link for more info
February 22, 2016	2:45pm Memorial High	TBD	TBD
April 18, 2016	2:45pm Memorial High	TBD	TBD

Abstracts

Prof. Daniel Erman

Title: How to Catch a (Data) Thief

I will discuss some surprising statistical facts that have been used to catch companies that lie about data.

Carolyn Abbott

Title: Donuts and coffee cups: the topology of surfaces

A classic problem in topology is to decide whether one surfaces can be deformed into another, without creating any holes or connecting any new points (stretching and bending is allowed!). If you can do so, such surfaces are considered 'the same.' We will formalize this notion and classify all closed surfaces, along the way answering such questions as whether a coffee cup is the same as a donut.

Useful Resources

Annual Reports

2013-2014 Annual Report

Archived Abstracts

Archived Math Circle Material

Link for presenters (in progress)

Advice For Math Circle Presenters Sample Lesson Plans