November 30, 2013 – Dr. Ivor Page – “How Fast Can We Do Arithmetic?”

Addition is the most elementary arithmetic operation required of computers. Their invention and development has almost entirely been to do arithmetic extremely fast.  I will present the simplest binary adder circuits (ripple carry adder), show some surprising results about carry propagation, develop carry look-ahead circuits for log-time addition, and then talk about redundant number systems and constant time addition and, consequently, log-time multiplication.

I will also present residue number systems that enable constant time addition and multiplication.

It’s all integer math, modulo arithmetic, and some simple logic circuits.

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November 16, 2013 – Ivan Borsenco – The Study of Prime Numbers: from Euclid till present days

Why do prime numbers fascinate us?

Why prime numbers are still an active area of research?

What advances have mathematicians made in this field this year?

You will find answers to these questions and many more if you come to the lecture.

See you there!

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November 2, 2013 – Adrian Andreescu – AMC 8 Problems

Please join us this Saturday as Adrian Andreescu leads the group through a selection of some of the most interesting AMC 8 problems.

And while you attend, if you meet the requirements below you can sign up for the AMC 8 according to the following instructions:

Hello All,

Hooray, it’s getting close to AMC 8 time again!  I’m handling signups differently this year.  First, here are the particulars for the test:

• When:  November 19th at 5pm SHARP
• Where:  The Davis Library
• Requirements:  Must be in 8th grade or below and current school does not offer the test.
• Cost:  $10 (The Davis library charges $50 for the program room, so I’ve had to increase the cost to cover all related fees)
• What to bring:  number 2 pencils, protractor, compass (scratch paper will be provided).  NO calculators

If you meet the above requirements, then registration for the test will happen in person on November 2nd.  Here are the particulars to sign up:

• When:  November 2nd starting at 4pm.
• Where:  UTD after math circle, https://metroplexmathcircle.wordpress.com/about/directions-and-times/
• Requirements:  I will take a short time to discuss math resources and answer questions,  then you can fill out the registration form
• What to bring:  Please bring the $10 fee for the test.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

Best,

Kathy Cordeiro

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October 05, 2013 – Dr. Jonathan Kane – “Rows of Roses”

Let’s talk about the sine and cosine functions. One does not need to use very much information about these commonly seen functions in order to understand a large number of curves which can be drawn by graphing sine and cosine in Cartesian and polar coordinates. We will see sine curves, sums of sine curves, Lissajous figures, cycloids, hypocycloids, epicyclodes, and, of course, many rows of roses.

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September 21, 2013 – Dr. Titu Andreescu – “Why Math on a Saturday Afternoon?”

This Saturday, Dr. Andreescu will be answering the eternal question:  “Why Math on a Saturday Afternoon?”

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September 14, 2014 – Pólya-Burnside Enumeration in Combinatorics — Adithya Ganesh

We are pleased to announce that the first topic of our 2013-2014 Metroplex Math Circle will be Pólya-Burnside Enumeration in Combinatorics, presented by our own Adithya Ganesh on September 14, 2013.

Burnside’s lemma from group theory has a broad scope of application in combinatorial enumeration problems.  Pólya’s enumeration theorem, which generalizes Burnside’s lemma using generating functions, provides a remarkable framework to easily solve counting problems in which we want to regard two entities as equivalent under some symmetry.

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Dr. Branislav Kisačanin – Geometry of Triangles

This Saturday, April 20th Dr. Kisačanin will return for another of his fantastic lectures.  Triangles factor into almost every math contest in addition to being endlessly fascinating objects in themselves.  Here is Dr. Kisačanin’s description of the session with links to resources:

In this talk about geometry of triangles we will see two different proofs of Stewart’s theorem, derive formulas for important cevians, and solve several interesting geometric problems.

We will also look at other important points in triangles (Fermat point, centers of excircles, …) and look at the Euler line, the nine-point circle, and related problems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart%27s_theorem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat_point
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excircle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler_line
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_point_circle

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