Madison Math Circle

What is it?

The UW-Madison math department organizes a series of talks aimed at interested middle school and high school students throughout the semester. Our goal is to present fun talks that give students a taste of interesting ideas in math and science. In the past (as part of "High School Math Nights") we've had talks about plasma and weather in outer space, the way images are shaded in video games, and how credit card numbers are securely transmitted over the internet.

For more information about Math Circles see http://www.mathcircles.org/

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 recently 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

Alright, I want to come!

Great! 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 (and tell us how many people are coming so we can purchase the appropriate amount of pizza!)

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 Van Vleck Hall room B223, on the UW-Madison campus). We'd also appreciate if you email us the dates that your group will be attending.

Parking on campus is free at most (but not all) outdoor parking lots after 4:30pm. Parking lots #25 (Elizabeth Waters) and #26 (Observatory Hill) may be the most convenient. These parking lots are on Observatory Drive just west of the intersection with Charter Street. If you park there, then walk east along Observatory Drive to the top of Bascom Hill, then turn right to Van Vleck Hall. See also the map at http://www.map.wisc.edu/?keyword=public%20parking

Questions?

If you have any questions, suggestions for topics, or so on, just email the organizers (Ed Dewey, David Dynerman, Nathan Clement, Lalit Jain, Kevin Zamzow, and Gheorghe Craciun): math-night@math.wisc.edu.

Talks this semester

More details about each talk to follow. All talks are in Van Vleck Hall, room B223.

Date	Speaker	Talk (click for more info)
October 3rd, 2011	Gheorghe Craciun	Introduction to Mathematical Proofs
October 10th, 2011	Gheorghe Craciun	Introduction to Mathematical Proofs (part 2)
October 17th, 2011	Sigurd Angenent	What are horseshoes and where can you find them?
October 24th, 2011	Mimansa Vahia	Math and Origami
October 31st, 2011	no lecture today (Halloween night)
November 7th, 2011, 6pm	Jean-Luc Thiffeault	Making taffy with the Golden mean
November 14th, 2011, 6pm	Uri Andrews	The math of sharing
November 21st, 2011, 6pm	Gheorghe Craciun	Planar graphs and networks
November 28th, 2011, 6pm	Gloria Mari-Beffa	Mathematical games and other stories

Talks next semester

More details about each talk to follow. All talks will be in Van Vleck Hall, room B223.

Date	Speaker	Talk (click for more info)
February 6, 2012	Patrick LaVictoire	TBA
March 12, 2012	Cathi Shaughnessy	Fun with Pi

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Introduction to Mathematical Proofs

October 3rd, 2011, 7pm, Van Vleck Hall room B223, UW-Madison campus

The first ever meeting of the Madison Math Circle will describe mathematical proofs using many examples from 2D and 3D geometry, algebra, logic, puzzles, and games (yes, games!). Free and open to the public. Middle school and high school students are invited to attend.

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Introduction to Mathematical Proofs (part 2)

October 10th, 2011, 7pm, Van Vleck Hall room B223, UW-Madison campus

We will present more examples of mathematical proofs, including solutions to some of the puzzles we have discussed last week. You don't need to have been here last week to understand the topic for this week. Most of the discussion will be about "graphs", or "networks", including Euler's formula about vertices, edges, and faces of special 3D graphs, and many interesting 2D and 3D examples (including the "buckyball"). Free and open to the public. Middle school and high school students are invited to attend.

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What are horseshoes and where can you find them?

(or : The weatherman's excuse)

October 17th, 2011, 7pm, Van Vleck Hall room B223, UW-Madison campus

Dynamical systems are the mathematical tools that scientists use to predict the future from the present. I'll show examples of some simple dynamical systems, and try to show how even simple dynamical systems can produce randomness — this is one reason why it is so hard to predict the weather. (The theory of dynamical systems uses a lot of calculus, but I'll avoid calculus and instead try to explain everything in pictures, pictures and more pictures). For more information about related ideas see this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory and this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_map .

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Math and Origami

October 24th, 2011, 7pm, Van Vleck Hall room B223, UW-Madison campus

Presenter: Mimansa Vahia. In this hands-on session participants will learn some origami folds and their connection to mathematical concepts. For more information about origami see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origami and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_of_paper_folding . Free and open to the public.

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Making taffy with the Golden mean

November 7th, 2011, 6pm (note time change!), Van Vleck Hall room B223, UW-Madison campus

Presenter: Jean-Luc Thiffeault. Taffy pullers are devices used to make candy or bread. They are very interesting mathematically: we can relate the number of folds of dough to some famous mathematical sequences. Free and open to the public.

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The math of sharing

November 14th, 2011, 6pm (note time change!), Van Vleck Hall room B223, UW-Madison campus

Presenter: Uri Andrews. You and some of your best friends have a party, and you get a cake. You want to split the cake, but next thing you know, Alice wants a corner piece, and Bob wants some green and brown frosting, and Cynthia wants a round piece, and so on... Is there a way to split the cake so everyone's happy? We'll discuss this case and the general problem of using math to fairly split things.

For related information please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_division . Free and open to the public.

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Planar graphs and networks

November 21th, 2011, 6pm (note time change!), Van Vleck Hall room B223, UW-Madison campus

Presenter: Gheorghe Craciun. A "graph" or "network" is a set of nodes connected by links. For example, road maps, electronic circuits, and chemical molecules may all be represented by graphs. A planar graph is a graph that can be drawn on a plane sheet of paper in such a way that its edges intersect only at their endpoints. We will discuss planar and non-planar graphs, and connections with Euler's formula on the number of nodes, edges, and faces of a polyhedron. We will also discuss Kuratowski's characterization of planar graphs in terms of the forbidden graphs K(5) and K(3,3), and we'll try to understand why it is impossible to connect three utilities to three houses without crossing lines (but ants who live on a donut can do it!).

For related information please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planar_graph and http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.3utilities.html . For the game "planarity" go to http://www.planarity.net

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Mathematical games and other stories

November 28th, 2011, 6pm (note time change!), Van Vleck Hall room B223, UW-Madison campus

Presenter: Gloria Mari-Beffa. In this talk I will introduce students to some games that are very simple, but difficult to master: Amida-Kuji, a japanese method to distribute awards, can be turned into a complicated puzzle and game; play the cylindrical and Mobius Tic-Tac-Toe with other students (or with your parents!) and see how complicated it becomes; learn the story of the absent-minded penguin and try to guess their patterns... If you want to find out more about the game "Amita-Kuji" and other interesting topics please see http://www2.edc.org/makingmath/mathproj.asp

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