Math Club

Stony Brook University

The Stony Brook Math Club is intended for students interested in exploring the mathematical universe. Students meet on Fridays at 4:15pm in P-131 Math Tower. Approximately once a month there are also talks during the Campus Lifetime (Wednesdays at 12:50) in Math P-131. At Friday meetings, there are problem sets and informal student discussions, which could involve anything from origami to cool tricks to use on a calculus exam. The Wednesday talks will generally be more mathematical in depth and are given by professors, undergraduates, or anyone in between. Pizza is always provided! You can join the mailing list by visiting http://groups.google.com/group/sbmath.


NEW: The problem of the month is back! You'll find it here.


 

List of sites for 2011 REU in Math

Informal Talks

April 11th 2012, 12:50pm, Math P-131  Dusa McDuff Embedding questions in symplectic geometry: an elementary introduction. Abstract
February 1st 2012, 12:50pm, Math P-131  Jim Simons My Life and Times in Mathematics.
December 7n 2011, 12:50pm, Math P-131  Mikhail Lyubich The Mandelbrot set and the Riemann Mapping Theorem. Abstract
November 2n 2011, 4:30pm, Math P-131  Bernie Maskit Complex structures on a torus. Abstract
October 28, 2011, 4:30pm (special day and time), Math P-131  Maria Hempel Flexible Polyhedra. Abstract
October 5, 2011, 12:50-1:45pm, Math P-131  Chris Bishop How to draw a conformal map. Slides of the talk. Abstract
April 13, 2011, 12:50-1:45pm, Math P-131  George Hart Mathematics and Art Abstract
March 9, 2011, 12:50-1:45pm, Math P-131  Marianna Csornyei On the Visibility of Invisible Sets Abstract
December 1, 2010, 12:50-1:45pm, Math P-131  Alex Kontorovich Primes in Circle Packings
October 27, 2010, 12:50-1:45pm, Math P-131  John Milnor Geometry of growth and form
September 29, 2010, 12:50-1:45pm, Math P-131  Scott Sutherland Complex polynomials and branched covers
April 21, 2010, 12:50-1:45pm, Math P-131  Marco Martens Cantor Sets and Chaos Abstract
March 17, 2010, 12:50-1:45pm, Math P-131  Alex Kunin   Origametry Abstract
February 3, 2010, 12:50-1:45pm, Math P-131  Jeremy Kahn   A simple proof of the Vaan der Waarden theorem Abstract
November 18, 2009, 12:50-1:45pm, Math P-131  Oleg Viro   Can straight lines be interlaced? Abstract
October 14, 2009, 12:50-1:45pm, Math P-131  Chris Arettines   Visualizing curves and their intersections on surfaces Abstract
 

Garden State Undergraduate Mathematics Conference

2010 A group of 15 Stonybrook undergraduates, mostly math majors, were organized through the math club and led by Professor Moira Chas of the Mathematics department to present posters and compete in the MAA undergraduate math competition both team and individual last saturday april 10th. (see MAA link below) They traveled by yellow school bus to the middlesex county community college campus in Edison NJ, participated in poster presentations and competitions in the morning, listened to lectures in the afternoon on "Math Challenges in Climate Control" *, and "Can Computers Do Math (research)" ** . After a successful day, they returned to Stonybrook that evening for a celebratory dinner at the Eastern Pavilion. Photos of these happenings as well as the students receiving their recognition certificates are to be seen here.
First place team competition Stonybrook : Kenneth Ascher '11 , Kevin Sackel '13 and Jingyu Zhao '11
Second and Fourth place individual : Kevin sackel '13 and Ahmed rafiqi '12
Poster distinction: Roman Kogan '10
Poster recognition: Ren Yi '11 and Robert Castellano '11

2011 Results from 2011
Second Places in individual: Tie between Thao Do and Kevin Sackel
Second Place in team competition: Robert Castellanos, Rob Pond and Kevin Sackel

Problem of the Month (May/June 2010)

Let ABCD be a quadrilateral inscribed in a circle with center O so that the angles DAO and BAC are the same. Show that the diagonals, AC and BD, in ABCD are perpendicular. pdf

Solutions can be dropped off in Math 3-119 or e-mailed to Moira Chas as a pdf file.

April 2010  problem and solution  Winners: Du Huang, Ahmad Rafiqi, Kevin Sackel ('13)   Prize: The Poincare Conjecture: In Search of the Shape of the Universe by Donal O'Shea
February 2010  problem and solution  Winners: Kevin Sackel ('13), Ren Yi ('11)  Prize: Music of the Primes by Marcus du Satoy
November 2009  problem and solution  Winner: Kevin Sackel ('13)  Prize: Algebra by Michael Artin

If you'd like something more challenging, try this or Conjecture 1 at the bottom of page 3 here; the footnote on page 1 and everything on pages 4-6 can be ignored. This would make an excellent honors thesis, as well as an actual research publication.

 
Math Department Homepage      Putnam Competition     
Faculty Advisory Committee: Moira Chas (chair), Jeremy Kahn, Aleksey Zinger.
Last modified: March 28, 2011.