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MATC Math Club Presents "MathFest 2005"
On Monday, March 14, the Madison Area Technical College (MATC)
Math Club will host an all-day celebration titled “MathFest
2005.” MathFest will feature a math-related presentation,
a high school math competition, poster competition, jazz music
and a pie eating contest in honor of Pi Day. The event starts
at 9 a.m. with most events held in the college’s Mitby
Theater at the MATC Truax location, 3550 Anderson St., Madison.
After a welcome by new MATC President Dr. Bettsey Barhorst, the
feature presentation will be “Buffon’s Needle: Calculating
Pi with Probability” by Beloit College Professor Glenn Appleby.
Buffon’s Needle is a mathematical problem involving the calculation
of Pi first posed by eighteenth century French naturalist and mathematician
the Comte de Buffon.
“Who Wants to be a Super Mathematician,” will follow
beginning at 10 a.m. Students from area high schools will compete
in a “battle
of the brains.” Participating high schools include Baraboo,
Jefferson, LaFollette, Madison East, Madison Memorial, Madison
West, Middleton, Montello, Reedsburg and Sauk Prairie.
At 11:30 a.m. MATC students will participate in a competition of
a different kind—a pie eating contest held in room 129D (off
the cafeteria), followed by jazz music in the Student Lounge (room
142) and a workshop at 1 p.m. on the latest wireless technology
presented by Texas Instruments.
Pi Day is an annual event to celebrate the math concept. Pi is
a mathematical constant, the ratio of a circle’s circumference
to its diameter and numerically equal to approximately 3.14. Pi
has inspired poems, limericks, jokes and even a popular film, and
was recently calculated to eight billion digits using super computers.
The celebration is held each year on March 14, to reflect Pi’s
value (3.14).
The MATC Math Club promotes interest in mathematics in the college and the community.
The club regularly hosts monthly guest lectures and mathematics competitions
for students at the middle school, high school and college level. The club’s
advisor is MATC mathematics instructor
J. “Sri” Sriskandarajah. For more information, see the club’s
website at http://matcmadison.edu/studentlife/clubs/mathclub/.
MATC is one of the largest of the Wisconsin Technical College System’s
16 colleges and serves approximately 50,000 individuals annually. It provides
a comprehensive curriculum of technical, liberal arts and science, adult basic
education and life enrichment studies and activities, as well as customized employee
training. MATC provides training in more than 100 career programs. It awards
associate degrees, vocational diplomas and certificates, and offers non-degree
courses. The college serves all or parts of 12 counties located in south-central
Wisconsin and offers instruction through five campuses and various locations
throughout the district.
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Last
Modified:
November 7, 2006
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