Updates
Below you will find a collection of our updates and e-mails that we sent out. Check out our calendar for event and lecture times.
Math Department Dinner Friday May 25
May 21, 2012 at 11:29 AM
Greetings Math Lovers,
This quarter's Math Department Dinner will be this Friday, May 25, at 6pm at Thai 65 on the Ave. We will be gathering between 5:30 and 5:45 on the first floor of Padelford Wing C, and then walking to Thai 65.
As always, everyone pays for their own dinner.
Undergrads, grad students, and faculty: we look forward to seeing you.
Math Club Officer Election Friday May 25
May 21, 2012 at 11:28 AM
Greetings Math Lovers,
Several of the current Math Club officers are graduating, and we need new officers for next year.
Do you care about the Math Club? Do you want to make sure that there are lectures, movies and fun next academic year? Then let us know you're interested. Email us: uwmathclub [at] gmail [dot] com
The election will be this Friday, May 25 at 4:30 in Savery 158.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Movie Night Friday April 13
April 10, 2012 at 12:26 PM
This Friday the Math Club will be hosting Movie Night. We will be watching the thriller Cube, in Savery 158 at 4:30 pm. As always, there will be pizza and snacks. We hope you'll join us.
Puzzle Night
February 14, 2012 at 9:03 AM
This Friday, Feb. 17, the Math Club is having Puzzle Night. We will be discussing math and logic puzzles. As always, we will have pizza. We will meet in Savery 157 at 4:30.
If you have any favorite math problems or puzzles, please bring them.
NURBS Talk
February 10, 2012 at 4:30 PM
On Friday, February 10 at 4:30 PM in Savery Hall Room 157 (SAV157) the UW Math Club will host a talk by Richard Fuhr on the topic "What are NURBS." What are NURBS? NURBS curves and surfaces are widely used in computer-aided design, in technical illustration software, and in other computer graphics applications. In the upcoming presentation, we will take a look at:
- What factors motivated the use of NURBS
- What NURBS entities are
- Why they are well-suited for computer applications
- What some of their mathematical properties are
- What practical challenges we have encountered
As usual, there will be pizza and drinks provided. We look forward to seeing you here!
NURBS Lecture pdf available
February 10, 2012 at 4:20 PM
A draft version of the Feb 10 presentation to the UW Math Club on "What are NURBS" is in a Dropbox at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1124048/MathClubTalk/MathClubTalk.pdf
Coming Soon - Math Club Course Reviews!!!!
February 07, 2012 at 4:30 PM
The Math Club is compiling a list of course reviews for math courses offered at UW. We are looking for short-article contributions from people who would like to share their knowledge and experiences about the math courses they have taken. We have included some guidelines below to better help you write your reviews. After receiving your initial submissions, the Math Club will edit and post them on our website.
This repository of articles will benefit everyone: it will be a good resource for new students looking for advice, for majors hunting for engaging classes, and for upperclassmen planning for their course schedule before graduation. So, if you feel that you have particularly enjoyed a class, why not submit your own review to us? To get your started, we have included below a few guidelines for writing your article as well as details on how to submit your work. There is also a sample article up for download at our Catalyst Dropbox (https://catalyst.uw.edu/collectit/assignment/shaoc/18644/72135 ).
We look forward to receiving your contributions!
Please note: By submitting your article to The Math Club, you give us the right to edit and distribute the content on our website. All materials deemed as inappropriate for public display will be removed by The Math Club editors. In addition, since your ultimate aim will be focusing on the class material and advising people about courses that best fit their needs, you will NOT need to evaluate the instructional style of individual professors. In other words, do not mention the name of, or include any personal opinions on the instructors in your article. Finally, you will have the option to submit an anonymous review; just tell us your preference at the end of your article.
Here are some guidelines for writing a review article. Note that there is no word limit on any submissions.
- Information: Include the course number, course title, as well as the quarter and year in which you took the class. (You will not need to include the instructor's name).
- Difficulty: Did the class prompt you to think abstractly? Were you surprised by the material presented or the work required in the class? How did the class compare to other math classes at UW?
- Material: Give a brief outline of the major topics and concepts presented in this class
- Preparation: Were the prerequisites sufficient preparation for the material presented? What other topics would you suggest for review?
- Applications: Was there enough emphasis on practical applications, such as practice on calculations and/or demonstrations of examples taken from the real world?
- Level of Mathematical Rigor: Did the Instructor/TA accept informal reasoning in homework? Did the class require students to write formal mathematical proofs?
- Textbook(s): What is the class textbook's price level (high/medium/low)? How do you think of the quality of exposition in the text? Is the book worth keeping as a reference text?
- Homework: How many hours per week/day did you devote to class homework? Did the difficulty and the amount of the homework make you feel challenged, overwhelmed, or stressful? Did the instructor require or allow students to submit homework via the web?
- Office Hours/Exam Prep: Were there review sessions before midterms/finals? Were the scheduled office hours sufficient for your needs?
- Supplementary Material: Did the instructor provide related material, such as web articles and handouts, or suggest related books?
At the end of your article, please remember to specify whether you want to include your name in the article, or to remain anonymous. (If you do not provide your name to us, we assume you choose the latter option).
Please submit your articles to the Catalyst Dropbox located at:
https://catalyst.uw.edu/collectit/dropbox/shaoc/18644
The file format of your articles can be .doc, .txt, or .pdf.
11/11/11 Party - on the 10th!
November 10, 2011 at 9:48 AM
This Friday will be the once-in-a-century date: 11/11/11. However, since it's also Veterans Day, we're having a party the day before.
Instead of our usual pizza, we will have breadsticks and snacks shaped like "11" -- stick-shaped, in other words.
We will talk about fun facts and mathematical results related to the number 11. There will also be Arts & Crafts.
So join us in Smith 115 from 3:30 to 5:30 on Thursday, Nov. 10.
Lecture by Prof. Monty McGovern Friday Aug. 5
August 02, 2011 at 6:11 PM
Greetings Math Lovers,
This Friday the Math Club will be proud to host a lecture by Prof. McGovern. Here is the abstract:
Once again I will give a talk on matching people up (this time not necessarily with other people). Instead of taking preferences into account, I will merely try to make as many acceptable matches as possible, subject to the usual rule that no two people get the same match. Along the way I will prove one of many max-min principles that pervade much of combinatorics and game theory.
We will be meeting in Savery 155 at 4:30 pm on Friday, August 5th. Light snacks will be provided.
Movie Night - The Sequel July 8
July 05, 2011 at 2:09 PM
Greetings Math Lovers,
This Friday we will be continuing with the second film on Fermat. Also, we might go out for food on the Ave afterward. We will be meeting at 4:30 in Savery 155.
Other upcoming activities are game night, puzzle night, and a lecture by Prof. McGovern on July 22nd.
I look forward to seeing you on Friday.
Elizabeth
movies today, July 1
July 01, 2011 at 10:35 AM
Greetings Math Lovers,
This is a reminder that the first meeting of summer quarter is this afternoon at 4:30 in Savery 155. We will be watching two films on Fermat's Last Theorem, and there will be light snacks.
Also, I will only be announcing club activities, with the exception of guest lectures, through the club email list and on Facebook. We are having trouble updating the website, but hope to have that resolved soon.
Thanks for you interest in the club, and I hope to see a lot of you this afternoon.
Elizabeth
Math Department Dinner Friday May 27 RSVP
May 24, 2011 at 4:51 PM
Greetings Math Lovers,
Finals are looming, cherry blossoms are rotting and the sun is taunting us with coy flirtation. It must be time for the Math Department Dinner! This quarter we are going to Azteca north of the U Village. We will meet at the Padelford C1 elevators at 5:30 on Friday and walk to Azteca at 5:45.
If you want to come please, PLEASE go to the catalyst link below and register, and if you can't come at the last minute, let us know!
https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/eglewis8/135135
As always, everyone pays for their own dinner. So check out their menu and prices.
Azteca's website can be found here:
http://www.aztecamex.com/
I've eaten there and the food is yummy. - Elizabeth
Come join us and complain about the budget cuts, decry the lamentable state of mathematical literacy, or just whine about how much you have to do before the end of the quarter.
Math Club Puzzle Night Friday May 20
May 17, 2011 at 2:55 PM
Greetings Math Lovers,
This Friday at 4:30 in Padelford C 401 the Math Club is having a puzzle night. This time, we want everyone to bring their own puzzles and fun math problems. The level of problems should be accessible to everyone who has completed the calculus sequence. More challenging problems are OK, too. So choose a favorite or two, and please bring the solution and the method to find it. Depending on how many people come, we might not have time to get to everyone's problems. We will discuss the problems in a spirit of friendly collaboration.
As always, there will be free pizza and drinks.
--
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
Problem Seminar Friday May 13
May 11, 2011 at 8:42 AM
Dear Math Lovers,
We will have a Putnam Seminar this week on Friday, May 13th, 3:30 - 4:30 pm, at room Smith 115. Please go to the seminar GoPost discussion board and download last meeting's homework (https://catalyst.uw.edu/gopost/conversation/shaoc/517159). Please try to solve them before the next meeting as we will be discussing these problems.
Jerry and Margaret,
Putnam Seminar Organizers
and
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
Math Club Election Results
May 10, 2011 at 11:04 PM
Greetings Math Club Members,
We would like to announce the results of Friday's election. The Math Club Officers for 2011-2012 are:
President: Elizabeth Lewis
Vice President: Jerry Cheng
Secretary: Dylan Wilson
Treasurer: Mohammad Mufti
Webmaster: Dan Gnanapragasam
Thanks so much to all our candidates, and everyone who came to the election! We hope to see all of you at the remaining Math Club events of spring quarter.
--
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
Election Info
May 05, 2011 at 9:35 PM
Greeting Math Lovers,
The election of the Math Club Officers for the 2011-2012 academic year will be held in Padelford C 401 at 4:30.
The candidates are:
President: Elizabeth Lewis
Vice President: Jerry Cheng and Dongzhi Liu
Secretary: Dylan Wilson
Treasurer: Mohammad Mufti and Yiming Wang
Webmaster: Dan Gnanapragasam, Saran Pidaparthy and Ranjan Pradeep
Remember, to be eligible to vote in the election you must be a Math Club member (i.e. you must have previously attended at least one Math Club event) and you must be enrolled as an undergrad at UW. Please be prompt, so that all the candidates will have time to speak about their qualifications.
After the election there will be a survey from a research team in the Computer Science department studying math students.
We look forward to seeing you on Friday.
--
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
Last Call for Math Club Officer Candidates
May 02, 2011 at 1:21 PM
Greetings Math Lovers,
Because we have had some inquiries from potential candidates in the last few days and because not everyone made it to our candidates' meeting last Wednesday, we are issuing one last request for potential candidates. This one comes with a deadline. If you want to run for an officer position, email us at uwmathclub@gmail.com. We must receive your email by midnight tonight, Monday May 2. Those of you who've already emailed us don't have to do so again. We will be emailing everyone we've heard from so far. If you think you've emailed us and you don't get a confirmation email shortly after this one, your email might have gone astray so do email us again. Every candidate must choose one officer position. If you haven't told us which position you're running for, email us by tonight.
Also, all the candidates must be present at the election this Friday in Padelford C 401 at 4:30 pm. Any candidate not present by 4:40 will be disqualified. To be eligible to vote in the election, you must have previously attended at least one Math Club event, and you must be enrolled as an undergraduate at UW. Candidates, you may vote for yourselves.
Once the candidates are finalized we will announce all the election details, probably tomorrow.
--
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
Problem Seminar Friday May 6
May 02, 2011 at 9:34 AM
Dear Math Lovers,
We will have a Putnam Seminar this week on Friday, May 6th, 3:30 - 4:20 pm, at room Smith 115. Please go to the seminar GoPost discussion board and download last meeting's homework (https://catalyst.uw.edu/gopost/conversation/shaoc/514023). Please try to solve them before the next meeting as we will be discussing these problems.
Jerry Cheng and Margaret Potter
Putnam Seminar Organizers
and
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
Problem Seminar Friday April 29
April 28, 2011 at 12:29 PM
Dear Math Lovers,
We will have a Putnam Seminar this week on Friday, April 29th, 3:30 - 4:30 pm, at room Smith 115. Please go to the seminar GoPost discussion board and download last meeting's homework (https://catalyst.uw.edu/gopost/conversation/shaoc/509103). Please try to solve them before the next meeting as we will be discussing these problems.
Jerry Cheng and Margaret Potter
Putnam Seminar Organizers
and
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
Puzzle Night Friday Apr 29
April 26, 2011 at 6:42 PM
Greetings Math Lovers,
This Friday, April 29, the Math Club is hosting a Puzzle Night. We will work collaboratively toward solutions for a variety of math problems.
As always, there will be free pizza and drinks. So join us for an evening of informal mathematics in Padelford C 401 from 4:30 to 6 pm.
--
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
Did you come to Prof. Stein's number theory lecture?
April 26, 2011 at 2:52 PM
Greetings Math Lovers,
We forgot to pass around a sign-in sheet at the lecture. We need a (fairly) accurate head count so we can maintain our funding. Sign-in sheets lead to pizza money! Anyone who came to the lecture, please let us know.
Thanks so much for your help.
--
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
Lecture by William Stein Friday April 22
April 20, 2011 at 8:35 AM
Greetings Math Lovers,
This Friday the Math Club is hosting a lecture on number theory by Prof. Stein. Here is his abstract:
TITLE: The Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture
ABSTRACT: I will give an introduction to the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture, which is considered by many to be one of the most central open problems in number theory. The conjecture, which was discovered based on numerical computations in the 1960s, asserts that the rank of a certain finitely generated abelian group equals the order of vanishing of a certain complex analytic function at the point 1.
So please join us on Friday, April 22 at 4:30 pm in Padelford C 401. As always, there will be free pizza and drinks. We look forward to seeing you.
Seeking Math Club Officer Candidates
April 08, 2011 at 11:05 AM
Greetings Math Club Members,
The Math Club will be holding elections in spring quarter for next year's officers. Since some of our current officers are graduating, we need candidates for the positions of Vice President, Treasurer and Web Master. The Vice President shares planning and coordination duties with the President. The Treasurer works with the Math Department and keeps tracks of our budget, with special attention paid to the pizza money! The Webmaster should have experience in web site management, and design experience is also valuable. All the officer candidates should be prepared to attend weekly planning meetings with other officers, as well as most of the club activities. Officers need to be able to collaborate, and fulfill their duties independently and reliably.
If you care about the Math Club and want to help make it even better next year, send us an email telling us about yourself and which office you're interested in. We look forward to hearing from you.
Problem Seminar Friday April 8
April 07, 2011 at 9:31 AM
Greetings Math Lovers,
This Friday, April 8, is the first meeting in spring quarter of the student-run Problem Solving Seminar. We will be meeting in Smith 115 from 3:30 to 4:30 pm. At this week's meeting we will be discussing problems from the Putnam competition. The handout can be found here: https://catalyst.uw.edu/gopost/conversation/shaoc/488114 . There will also be new problems to consider for next week's meeting.
The Problem Seminar is friendly and informal. Don't worry if you haven't come to a meeting before; newcomers are always welcome. No previous experience with a problem solving seminar is necessary. If you want to talk about strategies for solving math problems, we'd love to see you.
--
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
Problem Seminar Friday April 8
April 01, 2011 at 8:29 AM
Dear Math Lovers,
The next Putnam Problem Solving Seminar will take place on Friday, April 8th at 3:30 - 4:30 pm,
Smith 115. Please go to the seminar GoPost discussion board and download last meeting's
homework (https://catalyst.uw.edu/gopost/conversation/shaoc/488114). The homework
consists of 6 Putnam problems. Please try to solve them before the next meeting as we will be
discussing these problems.
Starting from the next seminar we will focus on Geometry, for a period of 2 - 3 weeks. We will
prepare handouts on Geometry. As always, we welcome new comers to our meeting - we have
included basic exercises in our self-contained handout. These exercises are intended to assist
your attempt to more challenging problems.
See you at the meeting,
--
Jerry Shao-Chieh Cheng
and
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
GoPost board for Problem Seminar
March 04, 2011 at 8:46 AM
Greetings Math Lovers,
There is a GoPost discussion board for the Putnam Problem Seminar. You can find it here:
https://catalyst.uw.edu/gopost/board/shaoc/20955/
The next seminar meeting is this afternoon at 3:30 in Lowe 102. For more info on this week's problems, see the Math Club website:
http://students.washington.edu/mathclub/
Problem Seminar and Math Department Dinner Friday March 4
March 01, 2011 at 8:27 AM
Greetings Math Lovers,
This Friday is the quarterly Math Department Dinner. We will be meeting at 5:30 in front of the elevator on the first floor of Padelford Wing C. By 5:45 we will begin to walk to Thai 65 on the Ave. As always, everyone pays for their own meal. The Departmental Dinner is a chance for faculty, grad students and undergrads to get to know one another over a casual dinner.
Here is a link to the RSVP page for the Math Department Dinner: https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/mathclub/126618
If you plan to attend, please let us know as soon as possible, so we can have an accurate reservation at Thai 65. We hope to see many of you there.
The next meeting of the Problem Solving Seminar will also be this Friday. We will be meeting from 3:30 to 4:30 in Lowe 102. The problems are A-3 and B-2 from 1996 and A-2 from 1997. You can download the problems from MAA's website:
http://amc.maa.org/a-activities/a7-problems/putnamindex.shtml
We look forward to seeing you on Friday.
Problem Solving Seminar
February 24, 2011 at 10:06 PM
At the next meeting we will be discussing problems A-3 and B-2 from 1996 and A-2 from 1997. Please review the problems before the meeting. The problems can be downloaded from MAA's website:
http://amc.maa.org/a-activities/a7-problems/putnamindex.shtml
- Friday, March 4, from 3:30 to 4:30
- Location: Lowe 102
Problem Solving Seminar Friday Mar. 3
February 24, 2011 at 11:29 AM
Greetings Math Lovers,
We have completed our club member survey and most people prefer Friday for Putnam Seminar meetings.
This week we won't have a Putnam Seminar. We will have a seminar next Friday, March 3rd, from 3:30 to 4:20 pm, room TBA.
I would also want to remind everyone that the homework problems are A-3 and B-2 from 1996 and A-2 from 1997. You can download the problems from MAA's website:
http://amc.maa.org/a-activities/a7-problems/putnamindex.shtml
We will discuss the homework problems in the next seminar.
--
Sincerely Yours,
Jerry Cheng
Putnam Seminar Organizer
and
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
Math Club Lecture by Monty McGovern Fri. Feb. 25
February 23, 2011 at 4:32 PM
Greetings Math Majors and Math Lovers,
This Friday, Feb. 25, the Math Club will be hosting a lecture by Prof. McGovern on "How to Have a Stable Marriage."
Here is Monty's abstract:
"This seemingly thorny social problem holds no terrors for a mathematician. I will show in fact how to pair up ALL the men and women in a society so as to avoid any elopements. I will then give a real-life application, to medical school graduates and the internship programs which are their next step."
As always, there will be free pizza and drinks. So please join us in Smith 105 at 4:30 pm.
Problem Solving Seminar Meeting Time Survey
February 19, 2011 at 6:18 PM
Greetings Math Lovers,
For those of you who didn't attend the first meeting of the Problem Solving Seminar this evening, below is a link to a survey. If you are interested in attending, please tell us which of the following times would be most convenient for you:
Wednesdays at 3:30 pm
Wednesdays at 4:30 pm
Fridays at 3:30 pm
The Catalyst Web Survey is at the following url:
https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/eglewis8/125820
More information about this evening's meeting and the seminar is at the Math Club website.
The problems presented at tonight's meeting were from the Mathematical Association of America's Putnam website:
http://amc.maa.org/a-activities/a7-problems/putnamindex.shtml
These problems will be discussed further at next week's meeting. If you'd didn't make it to the first meeting but would like to come next week, the problems can be downloaded in several formats.
The problems were A-3 and B-2 from 1996 and A-2 from 1997.
Fri. Feb. 18 Student-Run Problem Solving Seminar
February 17, 2011 at 8:47 AM
Greetings Math Lovers,
This Friday Feb. 18 the Math Club is hosting a presentation by Jerry Cheng on a new student-run seminar about problem solving. The seminar will be similar to the Putnam preparation class taught by Professors Ioana Dumitriu and Julia Pevtsova during Autumn Quarter. The new seminar will explore ideas and techniques for solving problems found in mathematical competitions, including the Putnam.
Everyone is welcome to participate. Students who have taken the Putnam seminar may enjoy the chance to continue investigating problem-solving techniques, but no previous experience is necessary. The seminar will be a chance for experienced students and beginners to learn from each other.
On Friday, Jerry will tell us more about the new seminar and present a few problems to get started. There will be free pizza and drinks. So please join us in Padelford C 036 at 4:30 pm.
Math Club Movie Night Fri. Jan. 28
January 26, 2011 at 8:28 AM
Greetings Math Club Members,
Thank you to all of you who participated in our survey! The results reflected an overwhelming preference for returning to Friday afternoon meetings.
This Friday we will be showing The Oxford Murders in Denny 205 at 4:30pm. The film is a thriller about a professor at Oxford and a grad student who try to solve a series of murders, seemingly connected by mathematical symbols.
As always, there will be free pizza and soda. Please join us.
Math Club Meeting Time Survey
January 21, 2011 at 2:22 PM
Greeting Math Club Members,
The Math Club had our first event of winter quarter today. We tried meeting on Wednesday instead of Friday, but several people requested that we return to Friday meetings. So I've created a Catalyst survey to find out when you all would prefer to meet.
There are only two questions, so the survey should take less than five minutes. Please share your opinion with us. The survey will be available until Monday at 4:30.
You can find the survey at the following url:
https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/eglewis8/122432
If you have any questions, or have trouble using the survey, please reply to this email.
I look forward to seeing your responses.
Elizabeth Lewis
Vice-President
University of Washington Math Club
Math Club Puzzle Night Wed. Jan. 19
January 19, 2011 at 1:05 PM
Greeting Math Lovers,
Our website is back up! Thanks for your patience.
This Wednesday (TONIGHT!), Jan. 19, the Math Club will be presenting an evening of math problems and puzzles. Come join us to discuss mathematics in a spirit of friendly collaboration. As always, there will be free pizza and soda.
We will be meeting in Padelford C 036 from 5 to 6:30 pm.
Math Department Dinner Fri Dec 3 -- RSVP
November 30, 2010 at 4:19 PM
Greetings Math Lovers,
It's time again for the Math Department Dinner. Every quarter students and faculty meet for an informal dinner at a local restaurant. Undergrads, grad students and faculty from Math, Stats and ACMS are all welcome.
We will meet on the first floor of Padelford Wing C, in front of the elevator, on Friday December 3rd at 5:30 pm. We will walk to Thai 65 on the Ave. Everyone buys their own meal, so please bring cash or a card.
Thai 65 doesn't have their own website, but if you want to investigate before you go they're reviewed on yelp.com, urbanspoon.com, etc. Just google "Thai 65".
Come mingle with your fellow math enthusiasts. Undergrads, find out which sections to register for -- if you have a choice. Faculty, get to know the name of someone you'll see in class in January. Everyone... complain about the weather!
If you plan to attend please use the link below to let us know, so we can make an accurate reservation.
https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/mathclub/118609
We look forward to seeing you on Friday.
Math Club Lecture by Luke Wolcott Fri. Nov. 19
November 15, 2010 at 5:43 PM
Greetings Math Lovers,
This Friday, Nov. 19, the Math Club will be hosting a lecture by Luke Wolcott. Luke will speak to us about
"A Gentle Introduction to Category Theory: Architecture of the Universe or Abstract Nonsense?"
Here is Luke's abstract:
Some people call mathematics the language of nature. Some mathematicians call category theory the language of mathematics. This broad theory attempts to capture the shape of all of mathematics, and is notoriously abstract. (Search "general abstract nonsense" on Wikipedia and category theory comes up!) But it is also remarkably simple. I'll give you a gentle introduction to this very important and powerful theory, and will show with lots of examples how simple and natural it is. At the same time, you'll get a taste of what higher mathematics is about. I'll also mention some of the recent applications of category theory to theoretical computer science.
As always, pizza and soft drinks will be provided. Please join us on Friday, Nov. 19, at 4:30 pm in Smith 105.
Math Club Birthday Party Friday Nov 12
November 09, 2010 at 8:38 PM
Greetings Math Lovers,
This Friday the Math Club will be celebrating the birthdays of a few of the famous mathematicians born in November. The officers will give brief presentations about their lives and major accomplishments.
Instead of pizza there will be birthday cake. Please join us at 4:30 pm in Smith 105.
--
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
Guest Lecture by Prof. Kovács Fri. Oct 29
October 26, 2010 at 7:57 AM
Greetings Math Lovers,
The Math Club is hosting the next in our series of guest lectures this Friday, Oct. 29, at 4:30 pm in Smith 105.
Prof. Sándor Kovács will tell us about higher-dimensional geometry. Here is his abstract:
"We will explore how using higher dimensional spaces can help us understand the geometry of plane curves."
As always, pizza and drinks will be provided. Please join us.
--
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
Math Club Lecture by Prof. McGovern, Fri. Oct. 22
October 19, 2010 at 3:06 PM
Greetings Math Lovers,
The Math Club is hosting a lecture by Prof. McGovern on "Numbers and Games" this Friday, Oct. 22, at 4:30 pm in Smith 105. Here's is Prof. McGovern's abstract:
"This talk is taken from J.H. Conway's wonderful book with the
same title. I will introduce a large class of two-player
games without chance, many of which unexpectedly turning out
to be numbers (!) in disguise. Moreover, the numbers can be
used to work out the best strategies for the games and
determine who wins them with best play. Along the way we will
meet not only all the real numbers we know and love, but
rather exotic numbers like the square root of infinity cubed
plus one."
As always, we will be providing free pizza and drinks. Please join us.
Math Club Mixer & Movie Night Friday Oct 15
October 12, 2010 at 2:35 PM
Come get to know your Math Club officers this Friday. We will have an informal meeting with pizza and snacks, and then watch a math-related film.
Do you have questions about the Math Club, or ideas for this year's activities? Come tell us about it, this Friday at 4:30 pm in Smith 307.
Math Club Lecture by Jim Gill on Friday Oct. 8
October 05, 2010 at 11:35 AM
Greetings Math Club members,
This Friday, October 8, the Math Club will be hosting our first Pizza Lecture of Autumn Quarter. Our speaker will be Jim Gill, an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in the UW Math Department. Here is the abstract of Jim's talk:
**********
"One million monkeys and typewriters versus one random number"
It is often said that if you give a million monkeys a million typewriters and enough time, they will produce the complete works of Shakespeare. We will examine this claim. Actual data with actual monkeys will be presented, however only higher order primates will be present at the talk.
**********
Please join us at 4:30 pm in Smith 115. As always, we will provide pizza and drinks.
The Math Club Officers
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan and Michael
Welcome back!
September 28, 2010 at 4:05 PM
The officers of the UW math club would like to welcome you back to a brand new year! Stay tuned as we post information on upcoming events and pizza/lectures for this quarter.
We have also updated the website to increase ease of accessibility to information. Please be patient as we continue to make improvements and fixes to our website.
We look forward to seeing you at our events!
Your officers,
Hoon, Elizabeth, Kunal, Dylan, Michael
University of Washington Math Club
(5/28) Elections
May 25, 2010 at 3:35 PM
On Friday, May 28th, at 4:30 pm the UW Math Club will be holding elections for next year's officers. The five positions are President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Webmaster. If you wish to run, please let us know before Wednesday, May 26th. You will be expected to give a short, one-to-two minute informal speech about why you are qualified for the position. If you cannot make the election time but would still like to run, please let us know, and we'll be glad to accommodate your request.
(5/14) Pizza/Lecture
May 12, 2010 at 10:20 AM
Greetings Math Majors and Math Lovers,
This Friday, May 14, the Math Club will be hosting a lecture by Professor Osborne on Convexity in the Plane.
Here is Professor Osborne's abstract:
A set in the plane (or 3-space, or...) is "convex" if, when it contains two points, it contains the entire line segment between them. The subject here will be convex subsets of the plane, with a few mild restrictions (e.g. "bounded"). Such sets have areas and perimeters, and a surprising result says that the perimeter is the integral of the width. Try this on a rectangle: The perimeter does not grow in coordination with the width; it jumps most when the rectangle is narrowest. I'll also talk about the "edge" characterizations of convexity, such as [Pun Alert!] "If you drive your car on a plain always turning left, and wind up where you started (including the direction you point), then the region in the plain enclosed by your path is convex."
Please join us on Friday at 4:30 in Denny 217 for Professor Osborne's lecture and free pizza.
The Math Club Officers,
Henry, Hoon, Kunal, Elizabeth and Michael
(4/30) Pizza/Lecture
April 27, 2010 at 12:09 PM
Greetings Math Majors,
We will be having a special pizza lecture this Friday by Seattle University Professor Allison Henrich. The title of her talk is "The Story of Pseudodiagrams and Knot Games" and the abstract is,
Abstract: In the mathematical study of knots, we consider a knot to be essentially a knotted piece of rope with its ends glued together. One knot is the same as another if you can pull, bend, tighten or stretch one knot to get the other. Rather than playing with rope, we usually draw pictures of knots to analyze their properties. The main question in knot theory, then, is the following: Given two diagrams of knots, how can we tell if they represent the same knot or two different knots? In our SMALL REU at Williams College last summer, my students and I studied objects called pseudodiagrams that are related to knot diagrams. A pseudodiagram is a diagram of a knot that may be missing some information about which strand is over and which strand is under at certain crossings. We spent the summer analyzing properties of pseudodiagrams, which gave us an idea for several types of games you might play with knots. Not only are these games fun to play, but they are related to the fund!
amental question of knot theory. In this talk, we will learn all about pseudodiagrams and play some games!
It should be very interesting, so I encourage you to come listen and get some free pizza. The details are below.
Date: Friday, 30th April.
Time: 4:30.
Place: Savory 132.
Hope to see you there!
(4/23) Movie & Pizza
April 23, 2010 at 9:17 AM
Greetings Math Majors and Math Lovers,
The Math Club is showing Fermat's Room, a thriller about four mathematicians who must outwit a killer, in Thomson Hall 325 at 4:30 pm.
Free pizza and a scary movie -- who could resist?
The Math Club Officers,
Henry, Hoon, Kunal, Elizabeth and Michael
(4/2) Pizza/Lecture
March 30, 2010 at 5:20 PM
Greetings Math Majors and Math Lovers,
This Friday, April 2, the Math Club will be hosting our first Pizza Lecture of Spring Quarter. We will be meeting at 4:30 pm in Smith 107. Our guest speaker will be Prof. Monty McGovern. He will be telling us about Fibonacci Numbers and Chinese Nim. Here is a brief synopsis:
"Almost nine centuries ago Leonardo of Pisa, better known as Fibonacci (meaning son of a dunce), wrote a book with an enormous number of problems, of which by far the most famous one involved the breeding of rabbits. It gave birth to the famous sequence 1,1,2,3,5,8,..., of which each term is the sum of the preceding two. I will briefly derive a formula for the n-th term of this sequence together with an unexpected application to a variation of Nim which will show that this sequence is but one piece of a huge jigsaw puzzle: the entire set of positive integers can be written as a disjoint union of Fibonacci-type sequences."
Come join the Math Club for a stimulating lecture. As usual, we will be providing pizza and drinks.
The Math Club Officers,
Henry, Hoon, Kunal, Elizabeth and Michael
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