Madison Math Circle Abstracts
August 6 2016
| David Sondak |
| Title: How to SEE Sound |
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The idea is to give a simple overview of sound waves by introducing sines and cosines and some of their basic anatomy (amplitude and frequency). We will then have a computational component where the students create their own sound waves by fiddling with parameters in the sines and cosines (again, amplitude, frequency and different superpositions of the sines and cosines). They will actually be able to see plots of their waves AND listen to their waves. Finally, if time permits, the students will use their own sound waves to make Oobleck dance. This will bring the exercise full circle in that they will be able to see their very own sound waves in action. |
September 12 2016
| TDB |
| Title: TBD |
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TBD |
September 19 2016
| TBD |
| Title: TBD |
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TBD |
September 26 2016
| TBD |
| Title: TBD |
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TBD |
October 3 2016
| TBD |
| Title: TBD |
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TBD |
October 10 2016
| TBD |
| Title: TBD |
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TBD |
October 17 2016
| TBD |
| Title: TBD |
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TBD |
October 24 2016
| TBD |
| Title: TBD |
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TBD |
October 31 2016
| n/a |
| Title: No Meeting |
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Enjoy Halloween. |
November 7 2016
| TBD |
| Title: TBD |
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TBD |
November 14 2016
| TBD |
| Title: TBD |
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TBD |
November 21 2016
| TBD |
| Title: TBD |
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TBD |
High School Meetings
September 28 2015
| Prof. Daniel Erman |
| Title: How to Catch a (Data) Thief |
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I will discuss some surprising statistical facts that have been used to catch companies that lie about data. |
October 19 2015
| Carolyn Abbott |
| Title: Donuts and coffee cups: the topology of surfaces |
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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. |
February 22 2016
| Jordan Ellenberg |
| Title: The Game of Set |
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TBD |
March 31 2016
| Daniel Erman |
| Title: How to catch a (data) thief |
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I will discuss some surprising statistical facts that have been used to catch companies that lie about data.
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April 18 2016
| DJ Bruce |
| Title: To Infinity and Beyond |
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1, 2, 3,..., infinity? What is infinity? Is infinity plus one bigger than infinity? Beginning by figuring out what we mean when we say to collections of objects have the same number of things we will slowly work our way deep into the garden of infinity. A garden that is often profoundly strange and filled with quite a few surprising snakes.
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April 21 2016
| DJ Bruce |
| Title: Can you untie a know with a knot |
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Is it possible to tie two knots on a rope such that when you slide them together they unknot themselves? The answer turns out to be interesting, and related to the sum 1-1+1-1+1-1+... |
April 21 2016
| DJ Bruce |
| Title: Can you untie a know with a knot |
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Is it possible to tie two knots on a rope such that when you slide them together they unknot themselves? The answer turns out to be interesting, and related to the sum 1-1+1-1+1-1+... |
May 2 2016
| DJ Bruce |
| Title: Is any knot not the unknot? |
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You're walking home from school, and you pull out your head phones to listen to some tunes. However, inevitably they are a horribly tangled mess, but are they really a knot? We'll talk about what exactly is a knot, and how we can tell when something is not the unknot.
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