It's not just numbers: Journeys into exploratory and proof-based mathematics
SAT Score Range
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17 sessions
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RS
AP
IR
+25
About
I believe everyone should be given a space to practice their proof-based math skills, since it teaches you to think logically on your feet, explore, and build/challenge arguments.
PREREQUISITES: This series is meant to be accessible to a broad audience. In reality, much of what we consider to be "college-level math" is completely reachable for students with just a basic proficiency with high school algebra. If any of these sessions require any more advanced prerequisites, I will say so in the description. If you don't have the background knowledge, I encourage you to attend anyway, but also feel free to ask for an excused absence.
Each session, we will explore a different topic in mathematics. These topics are likely unlike any math you've seen before. With this series, I hope to help expand your horizons of what math really is, outside of the classroom. Topics include, but are not limited to, set theory, combinatorics, graph theory, geometry, and more.
These sessions will be proof- and discussion-based, so I would like all participants to engage as much as they are comfortable with! I will provide the basic definitions, pose motivating questions, and provide hints as needed, but the exploration is entirely up to you.
I will add more sessions to this series as we go, so if you have any ideas for future sessions, please feel free to suggest them!
Also, if you're interested in this series but the current set time doesn't work for you, feel free to suggest a better time period that works for you, and if there's enough interest, I can see if I can switch times.
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✋ ATTENDANCE POLICY
Each session will be mostly independent from the others, so don't worry if you need to miss a few. However, if you do, please give me as much advance notice as possible.
SESSION 17
9
Nov
SESSION 17
Even More Math
Even More Math
Sun 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM UTCNov 9, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM UTC
Title: Bacteria? In my math class? Yuck!
In this session, I will introduce the mathematical idea of a Branching Process (also known as a Galton-Watson Process), which is a good example of a class of constructions called Random Processes. These constructions attempt to model some system as it changes over time using probability.
Branching Processes are very useful in modeling (for example) populations of microbes, so understanding how they work is not only mathematically interesting but also very useful in biological and epidemiological settings. We will try to understand questions like "what is the expected size of the population at a given time", "what is the probability that the population will eventually go extinct", and more!
Though they have not been scheduled yet, I plan to host more sessions in this series. If you're interested, keep posted by registering, and feel free to suggest ideas for future sessions!