Math Circle Schedule

Archive of past schedules

Spring 2025

Picture of Jing Tao

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!

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.