Department of Mathematics
University of Oklahoma

Math Circle Schedule

Archive of past schedules

Spring 2025

	Feb 23, 2025 Time: 1:00pm-2:30pm Location: University of Oklahoma, Physical Sciences Center, Room 1105 601 Elm Ave, Norman, OK 73019. Speaker: Jing Tao Title: The pancake flipping problem Abstract: Imagine a messy stack of pancakes where the only way to sort them is by flipping the top portion. How many flips does it take to get them in order? This puzzle is a fun way to explore math, patterns, and problem-solving. Join us! Pictures: $2-23-25, Pic 1$ $2-23-25, Pic 2$ $2-23-25, Pic 3$ $2-23-25, Pic 4$ $2-23-25, Pic 5$
$Picture of Speaker$	Mar 2, 2025 Time: 1:00pm-2:30pm Location: University of Oklahoma, Physical Sciences Center, Room 1105 601 Elm Ave, Norman, OK 73019. Speaker: Travis Mandel Title: The Monty Hall problem Abstract: You're a contestant on a game show. There are 3 doors. Behind one is a car. Behind the other two are goats. If you pick the door with the car, you win! After you pick a door, I open one of the other doors to reveal a goat. I then give you the option to change doors. What should you do? We'll talk about this and related problems in probability theory. Pictures: $3-2-25, Pic 1$ $3-2-25, Pic 2$ $3-2-25, Pic 3$
$Picture of Speaker$	Mar 9, 2025 Time: 1:00pm-2:30pm Location: University of Oklahoma, Physical Sciences Center, Room 1105 601 Elm Ave, Norman, OK 73019. Speaker: Peter Patzt Title: Numbers and Divisibility Abstract: Have you ever wondered why the sum of digits tells you about the divisibility by 3? And how can you tell if a number is divisible by 7?? We are going to learn about numbers, divisibility, and maybe even about some other ancient questions of mathematics. Pictures: $3-9-25, Pic 1$
$Picture of Speaker$	Mar 30, 2025 Time: 12:30pm-2:00pm Location: University of Oklahoma, Physical Sciences Center, Room 1105 601 Elm Ave, Norman, OK 73019. Speaker: Calvin Lin Title: The Pigeonhole Principle Abstract: What happens if you have more pigeons than holes to put them in? Some pigeons will have to share! That’s the simple idea behind the Pigeonhole Principle, and it’s super useful for solving all kinds of math problems across different topics. In this session, we’ll play games and solve puzzles to see how this helps us find patterns in the unknowns. Get ready to team up, think hard, and have fun figuring things out! Slides Pictures: $3-30-25, Pic 1$ $3-30-25, Pic 2$
$Picture of Speaker$	Apr 13, 2025 Time: 12:30pm-2:00pm Location: University of Oklahoma, Physical Sciences Center, Room 1105 601 Elm Ave, Norman, OK 73019. Speaker: Chary Addanki Title: Primes - The Building Blocks of Numbers Abstract: Atoms are fundamental building blocks of matter. In mathematics, the building blocks are Prime Numbers. In this session, we will learn about primes and how every number can be written as a product of them. Primes also play a prominent role in modern day encryption. We will later play with an example of encryption and finish the session with an elegant proof that there are infinitely many prime numbers.
$Picture of Speaker$	Apr 27, 2025 Time: 12:30pm-2:00pm Location: University of Oklahoma, Physical Sciences Center, Room 1105 601 Elm Ave, Norman, OK 73019. Speaker: James Beyer Title: Finding Area of Weird Shapes Abstract: First, we'll discuss Pick's Theorem, which allows us to calculate the area of shapes called lattice polygons. After that, we'll talk about how to estimate the area of even weirder shapes. Links related to this talk: Estimating pi with the Monte Carlo method. A Pick's Theorem worksheet from the University of Utah Math Circle. A more advanced Pick's Theorem worksheet from the Chapel Hill Math Circle (Advanced Group).