Spring 2007 Activities

Please see the bottom of the page for the actual times of these events.

• Tour of Campus which includes lunch at the dining hall – all you can eat for $5!

• Career Panel: Medicine, Oil Exploration and Drilling, Cryptography, Insurance Companies and more all of aspects that require mathematics. These and other jobs have been represented in the past. What more exciting careers will we see this year? Come and find out!

• Workshop: To be the unknot or not - that is the question

Take an extension cord out of your messy closet and plug the ends together. Question: Can you untangle the cord without unplugging the ends? The answer is maybe so and maybe not. Believe it or not you can actually study this problem with mathematics! A knot is a simple closed curve in 3-space - it is just like that extension cord with the ends plugged together. The unknot or the trivial knot is the knot you get by taking a cord that has no tangles in it and plugging the ends together. So, you see, the question remains, is a given knot the unknot or not? Using mathematics we will discuss how to answer this question.

• Workshop: Construction!

For philosophical reasons the ancient Greeks believed geometric constructions should be made using only a straight edge and a compass. We will learn why and we will learn how to do many of these fun constructions.

• Workshop: Solving an Ancient Problem with Origami

For 2000 years mathematicians tried to solve the problem of trisecting an arbitrary angle using only a compass and a straight edge. In 1837, Pierre Wantzel a French mathematician proved that there was no solution. We will discuss why it is impossible.

Of course there are other methods, some known by the ancient Greeks, which can be used to trisect an arbitrary angle. We will discuss some of these techniques. At the end of the talk, each member of the audience will trisect an angle using origami.

• Workshop: How the leopard got its spots

If you've ever wondered how math can explain the stripes on a zebra or the patches on a giraffe (or the spots on a leopard), come see "How the leopard got its spots".

• Workshop: Lady Tasting Tea

We will discuss R.A. Fisher's (the father of modern statistics) famous ``Lady Tasting Tea'' experiment and perform a similar one of our own. Fun, refreshments, and hypothesis tests in an hour or less.

• Talk: Sonya Kovalevsky

Learn about the fascinating biography of this impressive woman!

• Contests and Games: There will be various contests and games with prizes throughout the day. Come and win!

	Group A		Group B		Group C
Time	Event	Locations	Event	Locations	Event	Locations
8:15-8:35	Register	LIB 401	Register	LIB 401	Register	LIB 401
8:40-8:45	Welcome from Dean White	LIB 401	Welcome from Dean White	LIB 401	Welcome from Dean White	LIB 401
8:45 - 9:10	Sonya Kovalevsky Talk by Candace Andrews	LIB 401	Sonya Kovalevsky Talk by Candace Andrews	LIB 401	Sonya Kovalevsky Talk by Candace Andrews	LIB 401
9:15 - 10:00	Fractalicious! by Dr. Ramona Alger	LIB 424	To Be the Unknot or Not by Dr. Jennifer McLoud-Mann	LIB 401	Oragami and Construction by Dr. Debbie Koslover	LIB 426
10:00 - 10:10	Refreshments	LIB401	Refreshments	LIB401	Refreshments	LIB401
10:15 - 11:00	To Be the Unknot or Not by Dr. Jennifer McLoud-Mann	LIB 401	Oragami and Construction by Dr. Debbie Koslover	LIB 426	How The Leopard Got It's Spots by Dr. Rebecca Smith	LIB 424
11:00 - 12:15	LUNCH	Cafeteria	LUNCH	Cafeteria	Tour	LIB 401
12:15 - 1:30	Tour	Cafeteria	Tour	Cafeteria	LUNCH	Cafeteria
1:35 - 2:20	Oragami and Construction by Dr. Debbie Koslover	LIB 426	Fractalicious! by Dr. Ramona Alger	LIB 424	To Be the Unknot or Not by Dr. Jennifer McLoud-Mann	LIB 401
2:25 - 3:00	Career Panel	LIB 401	Career Panel	LIB 401	Career Panel	LIB 401
3:00 - 3:15	Prizes	LIB 401	Prizes	LIB 401	Prizes	LIB 401