Department of Mathematics
University of Oklahoma

Math Circle Schedule

Archive of past schedules

Spring 2026

	Feb 22, 2026 Time: 12:30pm-2:00pm Location: University of Oklahoma, Physical Sciences Center, Room 323 601 Elm Ave, Norman, OK 73019. Speaker: Siddharth Ramakrishnan Cherukara Title: Exploring the world of primes! Abstract: We will dive into one of the most fascinating areas of mathematics: prime numbers. Primes are the building blocks of all numbers — every whole number greater than 1 is either a prime or can be broken down into a product of primes. Think of them as the “atoms” of arithmetic! We'll discover what prime numbers are and why they are special, explore patterns and puzzles involving primes, and even see how primes show up in nature. Prime numbers worksheet. Factorization worksheet. Slides. Pictures: $2-22-26, Pic 1$ $2-22-26, Pic 2$ $2-22-26, Pic 3$ $2-22-26, Pic 4$
	Mar 1, 2026 Time: 12:30pm-2:00pm Location: University of Oklahoma, Physical Sciences Center, Room 323 601 Elm Ave, Norman, OK 73019. Speaker: Allen Wu Title: Distance, Shape, the Cosmos, and all that Abstract: Before the dawn of modern technology, how did people in the ancient time figure out the shape of the earth? Why is it a sphere, rather than a flat disc? How did they find the size of the earth, and the distance to the moon, the sun and other planets? Even with the help of modern technology, how can we find the distance to distant stars and galaxies? In this talk, we will see how careful observations and deductive geometric reasoning can take us a long way answering many of these questions. Pictures: $3-1-26, Pic 1$
	Mar 29, 2026 Time: 12:30pm-2:00pm Location: University of Oklahoma, Physical Sciences Center, Room 323 601 Elm Ave, Norman, OK 73019. Speaker: Ojas Bhagavath Title: How To Count What You Can't See? Abstract: Usually, math class is about finding the exact right answer. But what happens when the thing you're trying to count is underwater, hidden in a secret factory, or just way too big to count one-by-one? Can you use math to "guess" and still be right? In this session, we're going to look at some clever tricks mathematicians use to "guess" and still be (almost) right. When ecologists say a particular species of fish is endangered, how do they know the population of the fish? How do news reporters estimate the number of people in a large gathering? We'll discuss these and some other techniques to find the truth when we can't see the whole picture.
	Apr 12, 2026 Time: 12:30pm-2:00pm Location: University of Oklahoma, Physical Sciences Center, Room 323 601 Elm Ave, Norman, OK 73019. Speaker: Mahak Jauhri Title: TBD Abstract: TBD
	Apr 19, 2026 Time: 12:30pm-2:00pm Location: University of Oklahoma, Physical Sciences Center, Room 323 601 Elm Ave, Norman, OK 73019. Speaker: Alexander Mramor Title: TBD Abstract: TBD