MATC Mathematics Club
Lecture Series Page
Madison Area Technical College
Madison, Wisconsin

The MATC Mathematics Club sponsors a lecture series every semester. Speakers come from outside the school to provide us with insight into their research or mathematical curiosities they have discovered. Upcoming lectures and past lectures are listed below.

Upcoming Lectures

Fall 2008 Lectures
Lecture # 75
Spatiotemporal Location:	Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 3:30 AM, Room 209
Title:	"Soccer Balls, Pentagons and Euler"
Speaker:	Professor Marty Isaacs, UW-Madison Previous Lectures: (Dirty Children, Unfaithful Husbands, and Similar Problems) , (Triangular Miracles)
Abstract:	A soccer ball is essentially a sphere covered with pentagons and hexagons, arranged in such a way that three of these polygons meet at each corner. We will see in this talk that whenever a sphere is covered by pentagons and hexagons in that way, there must be exacty 12 pentagons. This depends on a beautiful formula of Euler, which we will derive.
Biography:	Professor Isaacs received his Ph.D from Harvard University and has held visiting positions at UC Berkeley, Oxford, Australian National University, University of Essen (Germany), University of Valencia (Spain). He is the author of three books and over 125 research papers. He has been a recipient of a Sloan Research Fellowship, the UW Teaching Award, the Mathematical Association of America (WI) Teaching Award, and the UW- School of Engineering Teaching Award.
Lecture # 76
Spatiotemporal Location:	Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 3:30, Room 209
Title:	"Mass Points: Geometry by Physics"
Speaker:	Professor Elgin Johnston, Iowa State University Previous Lectures: (Wine bottles and Pizza sharing) , (Choosing Your Ideal Companion and Other Probabilistic Surprises)
Abstract:	By using very elementary ideas about the center of mass of systems of three or four masses we can easily prove many interesting and beautiful results from geometry.
Biography:	Elgin Johnston earned his PhD in 1977 from the University of Illinois at Urbana, where he worked in approximation theory and complex analysis. He is currently Associate Chair of the Mathematics Department at Iowa State, Problem Section Editor for Mathematics Magazine, and Chair of the Committee on American Mathematics Competitions. His areas of active interest include problem solving, complex analysis, and working with mathematically gifted pre-college students. His leisure activities include biking, brewing beer, playing guitar, and reading history, mysteries, and science fiction.
Lecture # 77
Spatiotemporal Location:	Friday, November 7, 2008, 3:30 PM, Room 209
Title:	"Mining the Cubic Equation for Mathematical Gems"
Speaker:	Professor John Coburn, Mathematics Department, St. Louis Community College
Abstract:	Lost in the fascinating history of the cubic equation (and the contentious debate surrounding its solution), is a treasury of mathematical gems having direct ties to the current curriculum. These connections will be explored here.Help attendees appreciate the historic events of the Renaissance period that shaped the mathematic we study today.
Biography:	TBD
Lecture # 78
Spatiotemporal Location:	Wednesday, December 3, 2008, 3:30 PM, Room 209
Title:	"Fibonacci Trees: A Dream Come True"
Speaker:	Professor Benjamin Collins, UW-Platteville Previous Lectures: (Mathematics to the Rescue: Centrality in Graphs) , (A Marvelously Terrible Algorithm from Leonhard Euler)
Abstract:	In the mathematical literature, there are two different structures that are called “Fibonacci Trees.” Such ambiguity must not be allowed to stand! I will present the two different structures, and attendees at the talk will help me to decide which is appropriately called a Fibonacci Tree, and what we shall call the other one.
Biography:	Ben Collins has been in the math department at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville since 2000. His mathematical interests include discrete structures, recreational math, and mathematical history. In addition to being a world-renowned recording artist, an Olympic gold medalist, and a Nobel Laureate, he is also a pathological liar.

Past Lectures

Spring 2008 Lectures
Lecture # 74
	Date: Wednesday, May 7, 2008.
	Title: "The Tower of Hanoi Puzzle"
	Speaker:Professor Norbert Kuenzi, UW-Oshkosh

Lecture # 73
	Date: Friday, April 25, 2008.
	Title: "Why Knot?"
	Speaker:Professor Colin Adams, Williams College

Lecture # 72
	Date: Friday, April 18, 2008.
	Title: "Lingo...It's Not Just Words"
	Speaker:Dale R. Buske, St. Cloud State University Mathematics Department

Lecture # 71
	Date: Thursday, March 13, 2008.
	Title: "The Golden Ratio"
	Speaker:Professor John Frohliger, St. Norbert College

Lecture # 70
	Date: Tuesday, Febuary 19, 2008.
	Title: "Voting Paradoxes"
	Speaker:Professor Susan Hollingsworth, Edgewood College

Lecture # 69
	Date: Monday, January 28, 2008.
	Title: "Fermat, modular arithmetic, and cryptology"
	Speaker: Professor Ranjan Roy, Beloit College Past Lectures: "Leonhard Euler's 300th birth anniversary, Let's celebrate!" , "History of Elementary Algebra", "The Calculation of Pi", "How many prime numbers are there less than any given number?"

Fall 2007 Lectures
Lecture # 68
	Date: Wednesday, December 12, 2007.
	Title: "Probability Puzzlers"
	Speaker: Professor Steven Post, Edgewood College Past Lectures: "Mathematical Elegance - The Secret Life of Mathematicians", "Painting, Parity and Persistance", "The case of the migrating umbrellas", "Mathematics - A Study of Pattern"

Lecture # 67
	Date: Monday, November 12, 2007.
	Title: "The math behind the "15" puzzles and the other permutation puzzles"
	Speaker: Professor John Kiltinen, Northern Michigan University

Lecture # 66
	Date: Friday, October 23, 2007.
	Title: "Mime-matics"
	Speaker: Professor Tim Chartier, Davidson College, presently on sabbatical at the University of Washington, Seattle. Entertaining with Math - MIMEMATICS, please visit http://www.tctarts.org/ for details.

Lecture # 65
	Date: Friday, October 19, 2007.
	Title: "A marvelously terrible algorithm from Leonhard Euler"
	Speaker: Professor Benjamin Collins, UW-Platteville Past Lecture: "Mathematics to the Rescue: Centrality in Graphs"

Lecture # 64
	Date: Wednesday, September 5, 2007.
	Title: "Who's guarding the gallery?"
	Speaker: Professor Clement Jeske, UW-Platteville Past Lecture: "Picking an Area: Pick's Theorem"

Spring 2007 Lectures
Lecture # 63
	Date: Friday, May 4, 2007.
	Title: "Some (Sum) Numerical Curiosities for 2007"
	Speaker: Professor Norbert Kuenzi, UW - Oshkosh, http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/mathematics/
Lecture # 62
	Date: Friday, April 27, 2007.
	Title: "Sudoku: Questions, Variations, and Research"
	Speaker: Professor Laura Taalman, James Madison University ( Brain Teasers, Trivia, and Math Puzzlers, Score Totals Brainfreeze Puzzles WSJ article )
Lecture # 61
	Date: Thursday, April 26, 2007.
	Title: "Do You Do Sudoku?"
	Speaker: Professor Jane Tanner, SUNY Onondaga Community College
Lecture # 60
	Date: Friday, March 2, 2007.
	Title: "A Fractal View of the World"
	Speaker: Professor Clint Sprott, UW - Madison, Physics Department
Lecture # 59
	Date: Wednesday, February 21, 2007.
	Title: "Wine bottles and Pizza sharing"
	Speaker: Professor Elgin Johnston, Iowa State University
Lecture # 58
	Date: Monday, January 29, 2007.
	Title: "Leonhard Euler's 300th birth anniversary, Let's celebrate!"
	Speaker: Professor Ranjan Roy, Beloit College
Fall 2006 Lectures
Lecture # 57
	Date: Monday, December 4, 2006.
	Title: "Using Mathematics to Understand Molecules"
	Speaker: Professor Julie Mitchell, UW-Madison
Lecture # 56
	Date: Monday, November 13, 2006.
	Title: "Rational Approximations to Irrational Numbers"
	Speaker: Professor Tony Thomas, UW-Platteville
Lecture # 55
	Date: Friday, October 20, 2006.
	Title: "The Da Vinci Code: Its use of the Fibonacci Sequence, the Golden Ratio and Cryptography"
	Speaker: Professor Gary Britton, UW-Washington County
Lecture # 54
	Date: Friday, September 29, 2006.
	Title: "Mathematics is the language of the Universe"
	Speaker: Professor James Reardon, UW-Madison, Department of Physics
Spring 2006 Lectures
Lecture # 53
	Date: Friday, May 5, 2006.
	Title: "Is this a face or a house? Mathematical Exploration of Brain and How It Recognizes Faces"
	Speaker: Professor Amir H. Assadi, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Lecture # 52
	Date: Friday, April 7, 2006; this talk was a part of the Math Club's Mathematics Awareness Month Celebration.
	Title: "Invariant-Based Face Recognition"
	Speaker: Professor Nigel Boston, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Lecture # 51
	Date: Thursday, March 9, 2006
	Title: "One Potato, Two Potato, …"
	Speaker: Professor John Frohliger of St. Norbert College
Lecture # 50
	Date: Tuesday, February 14, 2006
	Title: "Sona, Kolam and Celtic Knots: Mathematical Explorations with One-Line Drawings"
	Speaker: Professor Philip Straffin of Beloit College
Lecture # 49
	Date: Thursday, January 26, 2006
	Title: "Dropping Lowest Grades"
	Speaker: Professor Jonathan Kane of theUniversity of Wisconsin -Whitewater
Fall 2005 Lectures
Lecture # 48
	Date: Wednesday, December 7, 2005
	Title: "Mathematical Elegance - The Secret Life of Mathematicians"
	Speaker: Professor Steven Post, Edgewood College
Lecture # 47
	Date: Monday, November 7, 2005
	Title: "The Number Theory of Partitions: The Legacy of Euler, Ramanujan, Dyson, and Beyond..."
	Speaker: Professor Ken Ono, University of Wisconsin Madison
Lecture # 46
	Date: Thursday, October 6, 2005
	Title: "The Quadratic Equation and Beyond"
	Speaker: Professor Tony Thomas, University of Wisconsin Platteville
Lecture # 45
	Date: Thursday, September 15, 2005
	Title: "You Took How Many? NIM Type Games"
	Speaker: Professor John Koker, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Spring 2005 Lectures
Lecture # 44
	Date: Monday, May 2, 2005
	Title: "The Mathematics of Juggling"
	Speaker: Professor John Vano of UW-Madison
Lecture # 43
	Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2005
	Title: "How Many Coconuts?--The Famous Monkey, Sailors, and Coconuts Problem"
	Speaker: Professor Norbert Kuenzi of UW-Oshkosh
Lecture # 42
	Date: Monday, March 14, 2005
	Title: "Buffon's Needle: Calculating Pi with Probability"
	Speaker: Professor Glenn Appleby of Beloit College
Lecture # 41
	Date: Monday, February 14, 2005
	Title: "Do Dogs Know Calculus?
	Speaker: Professor Tim Pennings of Hope College and his Welsh Corgi Elvis
Lecture # 40
	Date: Wednesday, January 19, 2005
	Title: "Honey, Where Shall We Sit?"
	Speaker: Professor John Frohliger of Saint Norbert's College

Fall 2004 Lectures
Lecture # 39
	Date: Wednesday, December 1
	Title: "Cryptography and the Benefits of Ignorance"
	Speaker: Professor Nigel Boston of UW-Madison
Lecture # 38
	Date: Monday, November 15
	Title: "Picking an Area: Pick's Theorem"
	Speaker: Professor Clement Jeske of UW-Platteville
Lecture # 37
	Date: Monday October 18
	Title: "History of Elementary Algebra"
	Speaker: Professor Ranjan Roy of Beloit College
Lecture # 36
	Date: Wednesday September 22
	Title: "Choosing Your Ideal Companion and Other Probabilistic Surprises"
	Speaker: Professor Elgin Johnston of Iowa State University
Lecture # 35
	Date: Monday August 30
	Title: "Trig Identities You Won’t See in a Calculus Class"
	Speaker: Professor David Boyles of UW-Platteville

Spring 2004 Lectures
Lecture # 34
	Date: Tuesday, May 4, 3:30 PM
	Title: "Mathematics to the Rescue: Centrality in Graphs"
	Speaker: Professor Benjamin Collins, UW-Platteville
Lecture # 33
	Date: Friday, April 16, 10:00 AM
	Title: "Number Theory: Partitions and the Legacy of Dyson and Ramanujan"
	Speaker: Professor Ken Ono, UW-Madison
Lecture # 32
	Date: Friday, March 9, 3:30 PM
	Title: "Cardano and the Quartic Formula"
	Speaker: Professor Andrew Matchett, UW-LaCrosse
Lecture # 31
	Date: Tuesday, February 10, 3:30 PM
	Title: "Game On! Strategies and Techniques in Combinatorial Game Theory"
	Speaker: Professor John Vano, UW-Madison
Lecture # 30
	Date: Monday, January 26, 3:30 PM
	Title: "Mathematics from the Toy Box - Tangrams!"
	Speaker: Professor Diane Benjamin, Edgewood College

Fall 2003 Lectures
Lecture # 29
	Date: Monday December 1, 3:30 PM
	Title: "Painting, Parity and Persistance"
	Speaker: Professor Steven Post of Edgewood College
Lecture # 28
	Date: Monday November 10, 3:30 PM
	Title: "a² + b² = c² Says who?"
	Speaker: Professor John Koker of UW-Oshkosh
Lecture # 27
	Date: Thursday October 2, 3:30 PM
	Title: "Worms, Blocks, and Harmony"
	Speaker: Professor John Frohliger of St. Norbert College
Lecture # 26
	Date: Friday September 5, 2003, 3:30 PM
	Title: "Why Can't We Trisect An Angle?"
	Speaker: Professor David Beran, UW-Superior

Spring 2003 Lectures
Lecture # 25
	Date: Friday May 2
	Title: "Some Car Problems are Mathematical"
	Speaker: Professor Rick Poss, St. Norbert College
Lecture # 24
	Date: Monday April 28
	Title: "Women Mathematicians I Haven't Known" (Our Mathematics Awareness Month Presentation)
	Speaker: Professor Georgia Benkart, UW-Madison Math Department
Lecture # 23
	Date: Friday March 14
	Title: "The Calculation of Pi" (part of the MATC Math Club's Pi Day festivities)
	Speaker: Professor Ranjan Roy, Beloit College
Lecture # 22
	Date: Monday February 24, 3:30 PM, Room 377
	Title: "A Collection of Diophantine Problems"
	Speaker: Professor Tony Thomas, UW-Platteville Math Department
Lecture # 21
	Date: Thursday January 30 at 3:30 pm in Room 377
	Title: "Knots, Links and Twisted Strips"
	Speaker: Professor Ken Jewell, Edgewood College

Fall 2002 Lectures
Lecture # 20
	Date: Tuesday December 3, 3:30 PM, Room 322
	Title: "Triangular Miracles"
	Speaker: Professor Martin Isaacs, UW-Madison Math Department
Lecture # 19
	Date: Tuesday November 5, 3:30 PM, Room 322
	Title: "Let's Win $1 million"
	Speaker: Professor Ken Ono, UW-Madison Math Department
Lecture # 18
	Date: Thursday October 10, 3:30 PM, Room 321
	Title: "Flipping coins, lots of coins"
	Speaker: Professor Jonathan Kane, UW-Whitewater Math Department
Lecture # 17
	Date: Friday September 13, 3:30 PM, Room 321
	Title: "Rainbows and Halos"
	Speaker: Andrew Matchett, UW-La Crosse Math Department

Spring 2002 Lectures
Lecture # 16
	Date: Monday May 6, Room 377
	Title: "Two men thinking about math recreations"
	Speakers: Professors Norbert Kuenzi and John Koker, UW-Oshkosh Math Department
Lecture # 15
	Date: Tuesday April 9, Room 322
	Title: "The case of the migrating umbrellas"
	Speaker: Professor Steven Post, Edgewood College
Lecture # 14
	Date: Wenesday March 20, Room 377
	Title: "Looking for Catalan Numbers"
	Speaker: Professor Georgia Benkart, UW-Madison Math Department
Lecture # 13
	Date: Tuesday February 12, Room 322
	Title: "A Lot of Friendship + A little math = One politician"
	Speaker: Professor Diane Benjamin, UW-Platteville Math Department
Lecture # 12
	Date: Thursday January 31, 3:30, Room 377
	Title: "Mathematics and Religion"
	Speaker: Dr. Kevin Mirus, MATC Math Department

Fall 2001 Lectures
Lecture # 11
	Date: Wednesday December 5, 3:30 PM, Room 322
	Title: "Some Sums"
	Speaker: Professor Anthony D. Thomas, UW-Platteville Math Department
Lecture # 10
	Date: Monday November 19, 3:30 PM, Room 350
	Title: "Finding the Odd Weight"
	Speaker: Professor John A. Frohliger, St. Norbert College Math Department (DePere, WI)
Lecture # 9
	Date: Tuesday October 16, 3:30 PM, Room 377
	Title: "How many prime numbers are there less than any given number?"
	Speaker: Professor Ranjan Roy, Beloit College
Lecture # 8
	Date: Friday September 28, 3:30 PM, Room 321
	Title: "What is Industrial Mathematics, Anyway?"
	Speaker: Professor Rachel Kuske, University of Minnesota

Spring 2001 Lectures
Lecture # 7
	Date: May 2, 2001
	Title: "Some Binary Curiosities"
	Speaker: Professor Norbert Kuenzi, UW-Oshkosh Math Department
Lecture # 6
	Date: April 5, 2001
	Title: "How to solve the cubic and Quartic equations: methods and history"
	Speaker: Ranjan Roy, Beloit College
Lecture # 5
	Date: Marcg 15, 2001
	Title: "Number Theory and Partitions: The Legacy of Dyson and Ramanujan"
	Speaker: Professor Ken Ono, UW-Madison Math Department
Lecture # 4
	Date: February 7, 2001
	Title: "Dirty Children, Unfaithful Husbands and Similar Problems"
	Speaker: Professor Marty Isaacs, UW-Madison Math Department

Fall 2000 Lectures
Lecture # 3
	Date: December 7, 2000
	Title: "Mathematics - A study of Pattern
	Speaker: Professor Steven Post, Edgewood College
Lecture # 2
	Date: November 8, 2000
	Title: " Srinivasa Ramanujan - An instance of romance in mathematics"
	Speaker: Professor Richard Askey, UW-Madison
Lecture # 1
	Date: Wednesday October 11, 2000
	Title: "Spatial Models of Voting Power and Voting Outcomes"
	Speaker: Professor Phillip Straffin, Beloit College

Join the MATC Mathematics Club

If you are interested, email Jeganathan "Sri" Sriskandarajah ( jsriskandara@matcmadison.edu ) or contact him in room 211G. Watch this page and the student bulletin for further announcements.

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