Throwback Fact: The Mathematical Association of America

In a couple of weeks the Center of Math will be attending the Joint Mathematics Meeting (JMM) in Seattle. The American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) run this annual event, which is one of the largest mathematics meeting in the world. To get ready for our trip, the Center of Math wanted to write about the history of the MAA for this weeks Throwback Fact. And if your wondering why we aren’t talking about the AMS, it’s because we already did a Throwback Fact on them, which you can check out here. So keep reading to learn more about the MAA!

Current logo by the MAA. Visit their website here!

Holiday Math: Secret Santa

Around the holidays, one fun tradition is to set up an arrangement wherein members of a group anonymously trade gifts with one another, a process which is often called "Secret Santa." In this new video by the Center of Math, we mathematically investigate the odds that randomly assigning people around will create a valid exchange: it's a bit more complicated than you might think! Keep reading to watch it here.

The Holiday Math Gift Guide: Best Gifts for the Math Enthusiast in Your Life! (Part 2)

With the holiday season in full swing, the Center of Math wanted to share with you some great gift giving ideas for the math enthusiast in your life. We had a post like this last year, which you can check out here for even more great ideas. This year we've added some new categories and removed some of the old to keep up with the ever-changing market.  So keep reading to see some great gift ideas hand-picked by the WCoM staff.

Star Wars Video Special

Hey there! I bet you're all quite excited about today's release of Star Wars Episode VII: I know I am. To celebrate this great film series' revival, I've made a video where I apply a bit of science and mathematics to one of the iconic scenes of Episode IV. Keep reading to see what it is!

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

This'll be the last Problem of the Week for a while, so I decided to write it based on something particularly neat. Take a look at it!

I've written up the solution to this as well, which you can find after the break.

Problem of the Week

Even if it hasn't started snowing yet, by golly it's supposed to be wintry in December, so have a suitably wintry Problem of the Week.

As always, I've written up my solution to this problem below. 

Famous Women of Science and Mathematics

Today, the Worldwide Center of Mathematics is going to talk about some of the most famous and accomplished women in science and mathematics. While the number of women in math and other STEM disciplines today is still small compared to the amount of men, it is important to realize that women can achieve just as much as men can, because gender does not determine intelligence, skill, or aptitude. Keep reading to learn about some inspiring ladies!

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

Seems like it's yet another Wednesday, and that means it's time for yet another Advanced Knowledge Problem, which today is even more concise than this introduction.

Solved it or not, feel free to check out my solution, right below.

Holiday Math: Dreidel Simulation

Happy Hanukkah, Center of Math fans! Since today's the first day (in Cambridge) of the holiday, I decided to take a mathematical/computational look at the dreidel game, one of the many traditions practiced on Hanukkah. Keep reading to learn how the game is played, and to see what I found out with my simulation of the game—the results may surprise you!

Problem of the Week

Here's a Problem of the Week based on a puzzle you might have heard of before, with a slight twist to make it more interesting. Have a go at it!

Like always, I've written up a solution to this problem, which you can read below. 

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

As finals for many an institution loom closer and closer, here's an Advanced Knowledge Problem that might very well be found on a Multivariable Calculus exam. If it looks too hard, try looking up and contemplating the method that's used to calculate the "usual" Gaussian integral, that is, the integral below without the r-squared term.

Keep reading to see how I solved this problem.

The WCoM Blog Celebrates 100k Views! And A Look Back at Our Favorite Blog Moments!

Today, the staff at the Worldwide Center of Mathematics is celebrating, because we've reached 100,000 views on our blog! We have worked very hard to achieve this number, but know that we could not have done it without our amazing fans. So we just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU to everyone who has been supporting our blog (and all things Center of Math) for the past couple of years. We only hope that you have enjoyed reading our blog as much as we have enjoyed writing it. Let’s continue this journey by taking a second to look back at how the blog got started and some of our favorite moments from our blog history.

Problem of the Week

Thanksgiving seems about a good as time as any for us to get completely piled with snow, so here's a wintry themed Problem of the Week which I don't know will be relevant by the time it goes up!

You can read my solution to this problem below.

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

Here's a combinatorics-based Advanced Knowledge Problem for which tomorrow you'll be thankful that you finished today. 

My solution's posted after the break. 

centerofmath.org gets a facelift

Visit centerofmath.org to check out the all new #centerofmath homepage!

Thanksgiving: Facts and Figures

With Thanksgiving approaching this week, we wanted to take a look at a few numerical facts and figures about the holiday. Keep reading for a text version of all the content in the image, plus more!

The Grand Hotel

One of my favorite mathematics stories/folktales/thought experiments/jokes is that of David Hilbert's Grand Hotel, where Hilbert is of course the renowned mathematician you may know of already. Despite its appearance as just a rather strange mathematical folktale, it's based around true, yet counterintuitive mathematical properties of infinite sets. Though the story has many different versions by many authors, you can read my rendition of it below.

Source

Problem of the Week

Thanksgiving is coming up soon, and with that comes all sorts of circular baked goods, like the ones in this two-part Problem of the Week!

Keep in mind that the pieces don't have to be the same shape or size! You can check out my solution below.

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

Here's another group theory based Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week. To learn about the concepts underlying problems like this, check out our new series on group theory!

Like always, I've written up my own solution to this problem below.

Video series: Group theory basics

The Worldwide Center of Mathematics is dedicated to more venues of mathematics education than just textbooks, and for this reason we've made a new video series, detailing some of the basics and interesting concepts in the mathematical field of group theory. Keep reading to learn more...

Problem of the Week

Happy Monday, Center of Math fans! For this Problem of the Week, you're definitely going to need to think outside the box.

Keep reading to check out my own solution to this problem!

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

Happy 11-11! No special problem for that date, though, but if you want you can substitute 11 for both alpha and beta in today's Advanced Knowledge Problem, if that seems like fun.

Keep reading to see how I worked out the answer.

The Worldwide Lecture Seminar Series Presents: Mihai Fulger

The Worldwide Center of Mathematics invites you to join us on Friday, November 20, 2015 for a talk by Mihai Fulger of Princeton University on local volumes. You can register to attend this event for FREE at http://centerofmath.eventbrite.com

The Worldwide Lecture Series is presented and hosted by the Worldwide Center of Mathematics in our studio lecture room in Cambridge. We record these lectures in full and make them available on our YouTube channel for the global mathematics community. You can view our past lectures here, or watch them below, including this lecture once it's taken place.

Our lecture room and recording equipment/services are available for hire. If you would like to give a lecture, record it and distribute it online, we offer the ideal solution. For more information, contact us at info@centerofmath.org.

Problem of the Week

Good morning Center of Math fans! Here's a number-theory Problem of the Week for you to wake yourselves up with.

Keep reading to see how I proved this!

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

Happy Wednesday! By now you all should be thoroughly doused in inappropriately-timed, beginning-of-November holiday advertisments. Here's a completely non-themed Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week to keep your mind off those. 

Keep reading if you want to see my solution!

YouTube Subscriber Challenge: #challengethecenter

The Center of Math is excited to announce a brand new event! Do you enjoy watching people do crazy things? Things that make you laugh? Things that make you thankful it's not you? If you do, you'll love our newest promotion, which is all about embarrassing our staff and entertaining our fans. So check out this video and keep reading to learn more!

Problem of the Week

Hopefully your systems are all respectively emptied of sugar by now. We ran out of pumpkin spice flavoring, so here's a regular old trigonometry-based Problem of the Week. 

Keep reading to see my solution for this problem.

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

It's four days before All Hallow's Day, so I guess that makes today Hallowe'en-e'en-e'en-e'en? Here's another pumpkin spice flavored Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week to celebrate it. 

Keep reading to see my formulation of the solution!

Problem of the Week

Hallowe'en is coming up soon, so we're trying out our new experimental pumpkin spice flavoring for the Problem of the Week. Have a go at it!

Keep reading to see my solution!

Throwback Fact: Thales of Miletus

Thales of Miletus was an ancient Greek mathematician, scientist, and philosopher who predated most well known Greek thinkers. Though his contributions and discoveries in physical sciences and philosophy were noteworthy, this is the Center of Math, and thus we are going to focus on his contributions to mathematics for this week's Throwback Fact.  So, keep reading to learn more!

Thales
Source: Wikipedia

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

As Steven Spielberg would have it, today's the day Marty McFly visits the far-flung future of two thousand fifteen. I wrote down a time-travel themed Advanced Knowledge Problem, but I left it in the trunk of my flying car. Here's the one I came up with in the meantime.

Think you've worked it out? Keep reading for my solution.

Must-Watch Mathematics YouTube Channels

Since we enjoyed writing about our favorite math-inspired Twitters, we decided that for this week we'd write about some of our favorite YouTube channels with math related content. Keep reading to see who made the list.

Problem of the Week

Good morning from the Center of Math! We don't have the hourly traffic report, but we do have this week's new Problem of the Week.

I've written up my answer to this one below...

Video Series: So You Want To Learn LaTeX

Hello to all you mathematicians out there! We at the Center of Math have put together a video series where I, Jacob, explain the basics and useful features of the powerful open-source text and mathematics typesetting program LaTeX, widely used in academic writing, and which can make your papers for school, or documents for any purpose, look beautiful. In fact, all of the Worldwide Center of Mathematics' textbooks are typeset in LaTeX! Keep reading to find out more...

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

Don't miss this week's Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week.

Once you've given as much thought as either you've got or it takes, click below to see my own solution.

Problem of the Week

Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day! You can also feel free to celebrate some Italian guy paid by Spain to attempt and fail to get to India, if that's what you're into. Here's the Problem of the Week, which has to do with neither of them.

 Figured out how to show this? Stumped? You can find my work-through of this one after the break.

Seven Math-Inspired Halloween Costumes

Halloween is approaching and October is coming to an end, so it seems it's time to start thinking about costumes! What will your costume be this year? A ghost? A mummy? How about something inspired by math? At the Worldwide Center of Mathematics, we really love math and Halloween, so keep reading for some awesome costume ideas!

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

As you may have guessed on Monday, we're diving headlong into the autumnal spirit in our Problems of the Week, and this one before you is no exception. Dig in!

To view the solution, or to check yours against mine, click below.

Celebrating World Teachers' Day!

Happy World Teachers' Day! The Center of Math wanted to extend our gratitude and appreciation for teachers across the world! We asked some of our staff members and friends to share with us how teachers have made a positive impact on their lives. Keep reading to see what people had to say.

Problem of the Week

I hope everyone's been safe and dry this weekend--of course, I write these on Friday, so I don't actually know how bad it was (will be? will have been?). Here's the first Problem of the Week for October!

Click below for my writeup of my solution to this one.

Throwback Fact: The SAT

This Saturday marks the first SAT exam of the year, so to celebrate, the Center of Math is going to talk about the history of the SAT for this week's Throwback Fact. Keep reading to learn more about the SAT!

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

It's the last day of September! Here's an Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week to distract you from the evaporation of all your remaining excuses by which you could maintain that it's still summer.

Look below for my solution to this problem.

Problem of the Week

You might already know or have heard what the answer itself is to today's Problem of the Week, but try working it out for yourself!

Check below the break for my own way of finding the answer.

Throwback Fact: Three German Mathematicians

Happy Oktoberfest! With the annual festival taking place right now in Germany, the Center of Math wanted to celebrate by talking about three famous German mathematicians for this week's Throwback Fact.

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

Autumn is upon us! Or spring, if you're in the southern hemisphere. With that in mind, let's autumn into action with the Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week:

You can find my solution to this one after the break.

The Worldwide Lecture Seminar Series Presents: Graham Denham

Join us this coming Friday for a talk by Graham Denham, of the University of Western Ontario, on Milnor fibres of hyperplane arrangements, presented by the Worldwide Lecture Seminar Series. You can register to attend this event for free at http://centerofmath.eventbrite.com.

Once the presentation has happened, we'll post and make freely available the full event footage on our YouTube channel. For more Worldwide Lecture Seminar Series coverage, click here, or watch past talks we've hosted below:

Problem of the Week

How's everyone's Mondays? Here's a Problem of the Week which I can assure you wasn't at all inspired by anything that's happened to me recently.

Take a look after the break to find out just how many man-hours are wasted by this confluence of laziness and bureaucracy.

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

Happy Wednesday! Here's this week's Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week, whose content turns up in the theory of partial differential equations, but which can be solved with just partial differentiation know-how.

My solution's posted after the break.

Mathematics on Twitter

The Center of Math loves using Twitter to connect with our fans, but we also love it because it allows us to spread math literacy to people around the world. On the Twitterverse we find awesome math content, so we wanted to share with you some of our favorite Twitters. Keep reading to see who made the list.

Problem of the Week

Have you ever been stuck somewhere for so long you just wanted to punch out the clock? Find out the consequences of that in today's Problem of the Week!

Like always, I've got the solution posted after the break.

Throwback Fact: The ACT

With the first ACT exam quickly approaching--this Saturday, in fact!--the Center of Math wanted to talk about the history of the ACT and how it has evolved over the years. Although the ACT has not been around as long as the SAT, it has become just as popular and is now accepted by all universities and colleges in the US.

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

Good morning, everyone! Here's an Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week based in some commutative algebra.

As always, my proof for this problem can be found after the break.

Problem of the Week

Happy Labor Day, everyone! In celebration of the time off, here's a Problem of the Week that's about a fun game... or rather, a not-so-fun game, as you're going to figure out in the Problem itself!

You can find my solution after the break, like always.

Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week

School's starting up again, but at this point I'd hazard that it's mostly the handing out of syllabuses with nary an interesting problem in sight. Here's the Advanced Knowledge Problem of the Week to keep your gears running.

You can check out the solution for this one after the break.