Planning for the 16th annual spring conference that will take place April 27th through April 28, 2012 is in the works.  The keynote speakers will be:

Robert Mathews, Yuba College

The Well-Tempered Fraction:  a look at how music and math intersect in everyday life

 

Shirley Gray, CSU Los Angeles

Mathematics – A Tie that Binds:  Sources that Unite our Community

Too often students view the pre-internet world as one of individual struggle and isolated, solitary work, with little communication and connection among mathematicians, particularly across international borders. But this is perhaps surprisingly not the case. European mathematicians in the 17th and 18th
centuries did not work in isolation; rather they worked in collaboration and sometimes in competition with their counterparts across the continent.  Moreover, they were often not thought of as being “genius” or even young by their contemporaries. Just as today, it was a competitive world; everyone wanted to garner the recognition that came with being the first with a particular result. But this only fueled the need for collaboration and the sharing of ideas, through written communication, both personal and in professional journals, personal visits and travel, and presentations at professional society meetings.  Mathematics is a social endeavor that progresses by collaborations in non-linear fashion. As Newton wrote, in a letter to his rival Robert Hooke, in 1676: “If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

If you want to get an idea about what it will look like see below for the information from last year's conference.

15^th Annual Spring Conference

Click here for a copy of the registration form in PDF

Click here for a copy of the registration form in Word

Click here for a copy of the Spring Conference Flier

Click here for the Program

The 15^th annual CMC³ recreational math conference in Lake Tahoe, Nevada is April 29-April 30, 2011!

Keynote Speakers

Friday Evening Keynote Speaker

Jean Bee Chan
Sonoma State University
"A View of an Art Gallery"

At a Stanford mathematics conference in 1973, a young mathematician Vasek Chvatal asked the late Victor Klee of the University of Washington for an interesting geometry problem. Klee suggested the problem of finding the minimum number of guards sufficient to watch a polygonal art gallery. This problem inspired a new field of research in computational geometry. We will take an informal tour of the art gallery theorems.

 

Saturday Keynote Speaker

Stuart Moskowitz
Humboldt State University
"Make Puzzles Less Puzzling with Math:  Why Two Serial Numbers Appear on Each Piece of U.S. Currency"

View talk in pdf

If a mechanical puzzle is difficult to solve, the problem solver needs to try multiple strategies until a solution is found.  This is exactly the skill we want for our students.  Vanishing area puzzles, popularized by Sam Loyd in the late 1800's, and more recently by Martin Gardner and Jerry Slocum, make an excellent addition to almost any mathematics course.  The puzzles are easy to make, but difficult to figure out, yet they can be explained with concepts from beginning algebra.  The variety of designs appeals to everyone from third graders and elementary teachers, to college students and faculty.  Even counterfeiters have made use of this type of puzzle.  We will use a hands-on approach to explore and explain how it works, as well as take a historical tour of how they have been used and collected for more than 200 years.

Saturday Afternoon Student Speaker
Andrew Gabriel
Santa Rosa Junior College
"To Infinity and Beyond"

Buzz Lightyear says it and Eli Maor wrote a book about it, but is there really anything beyond infinity?
Georg Cantor believed so! We’ll explore Cantor’s transfinite set theory, his fierce opposition, and his
spiral into mathematical insanity.

 

 Session Speakers

Steve Blasberg
West Valley College
"If There's No Solution, it's Not a Problem"

The Student Mathematics League is a national math competition for two-year college students featuring challenging and interesting problems from algebra, geometry, trigonometry, combinatorics, and number theory. As the Test Developer for the SML, I'll be presenting some of my favorite problems (AND solutions!) from the last two years of the competition.

Dean Gooch
Santa Rosa Junior College
"Discovering and Processing Numbers Found in the Wild"

One cannot help but notice that numbers are everywhere. This talk will focuson the numbers that we encounter every day. I will show what is brought to mind bysome numbers including the prime factorizations of these numbers. Factoring “tricks”and their justifications will be demonstrated. I will also present an example of the Sieveof Eratosthenes.

Diane Mathios
De Anza College
"Knitting in Waves"

Can trigonometric curves become the inspiration for knit or crochet scarves and shawls?  This workshop will introduce some patterns inspired by sinusoids.  In addition, other mathematical patterns that can be knit or crocheted will be discussed.

Cliff Nelson
College of Marin and Santa Rosa Junior College
"Applicant Selection and the Rule of Total Probability"

If selection for a program is made at random and only a certain proportion of the applicants meet the minimum qualifications, do the unqualified applicants need to be screened out at the beginning?  Contemplating this issue led me to an interesting examination of the issues and a delightful proof that I want to share in this talk.

John Coburn
St. Louis Community College
"My Favorite Quips, Clips, Gems, and Mathematical Cartoons"

Over the years, many of us have acquired a collection of student bloopers, quips and quotes, humorous cartoons related to the teaching mathematics, and those uproariously funny gems that need to be treasured and shared.  While I expect the session will be fun and enjoyed by all, it will also be informative and highly practical, addressing issues like, “I can’t use humor – it’s just not my style.” Come share the fun as we look at the lighter side of mathematics

Bernie Scanlon
Bakersfield College
"Dancing with Fractions"

Contra Dancing has nothing to do with country-western dance for with a certain Central American nation. It is a dance form unknown to most people yet it is practiced with great devotion and abandon all over the United States. Contra dancing predates the American revolution and has its roots in English country dance. It has been described as the traditional barn dancing of New England. The quickest definition for it ( although not accurate) is “ square dancing in a line”.  Contra dancing is unique in that a high percentage of its practitioners are highly involved in mathematics, computers, or engineering. The appeal seems to lie in its being a kind of “set dancing” where one’s position relative to others while tracing patterns on the dance floor is paramount. Timing is also crucial as is the ability to rapidly carry out called instructions and do fractions math on the fly.  We will explore the rudiments of this dance and investigate the math that is intimately a part of it. Attendees will be strongly encouraged to try an actual dance and give their first impressions. If time permits  we will discuss the pros and cons of using contra dancing to teach basic arithmetic concepts.

Lalu Simcik
Cabrillo College
"Bubble or Nothing"

The conclusions and connections between a corral, a rectangular box, and spherically optimized enclosures are simple and full of wonder.  A bubble demonstration video is included.  Participants will have the opportunity to practice their own bubble blowing techniques.

Birant Ramazan
University of Nevada, Reno
"Problems to Open the Math Appetite of Non-Mathematicians"

In this talk I will present a collection of some of my favorite problems and puzzles. Almost no mathematical
knowledge is required to understand them, but some clever use of mathematical techniques will be helpful to
solve them. Most of these problems can be used to entertain non-mathematicians and also to raise the interest of
students.

Craig Nelson
Academy of Art College, San Francisco
"Mathematics in Art"

A study in Drawing, Value, Color, and Composition and how mathematics can be found in art.

Vladimir Logninenko
DeAnza College
"Adventures in the World of Series"

The following three topics will be covered:
1. Around Riemann\'s Theorem about conditionally convergent series of numbers and vectors
2. Convergence of powers of a given series
3. Mathematical problems related to CORDIC method

Nicholas Gunther
Investment Banking
"The Menage Problem"

Carpooling and Room Sharing:  Looking to share Tahoe driving and or lodging expenses?  Contact Michael Eurgubian at meurgubian@SantaRosa.edu and he will connect you with others who are looking to carpooling and room sharing.

Road Construction Information:  Highway 50 is scheduled to be closed due to construction, but fortunately construction will not begin until at least May 2.  The road construction should not affect those traveling to and from Tahoe for the conference.

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