BARD MATH CIRCLE

The Mathematics of Chalk

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by

Bard Math Circle
in
Dear Math Circlers,

Our monthly math circle is finally here! Please join on Saturday, May 11, 2013, from 1-3pm at the Kingston Library (55 Franklin Street, Kingston, NY), where we’ll combine our math enrichment activities with the library’s annual Chalk Walk. After our initial computations upstairs in the Community Room, we’ll leave behind the tomes, manuscripts and books, and head outside to the library’s beautiful garden exterior, to decorate the surrounding sidewalk. It’s the Kingston Library’s annual Chalk Walk, so we won’t be the only ones.

                   

As always, we feature mathematical puzzles and logical games, a sheet of insightful problems, and a hands-on math project that you can take home. This time, however, the hands-on project will be made with chalk, and you’ll leave it on the sidewalk. You’re welcome to snap photos, though, and take those home.

The mathematical theme this month is an amalgamation of some special triangles and friendly fractals. What do Pascal’s Triangle and Sierpiński’s Triangle have in common? Who can produce the most stunning fractal in chalk? This email contains some fractal images that you might try out on Saturday, but feel free to bring your own.

See you on Saturday!

Please Bring:
* Sunscreen / Umbrella / Sunglasses
* Camera
* Extra chalk, although the library will provide plenty
* A bottle of water – stay hydrated!
* Your favorite fractal! Try a google search for inspiration.

3rd Annual kingston Library Chalk Walk
This Saturday from 12:30 PM to 3:00 PM
Artists of all ages and skill levels are invited to participate in our Third Annual Chalk Walk.
The Chalk Walk will showcase community artwork and foster self-expression!
Artists will be assigned a 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 foot space to create a design. Chalk will be provided.
There will also be prizes, music, and food.
The event is free and will be held rain or shine. It is a smoke-free event.
Japheth

P.S.: The Bard academic year is coming to an end, so this is your chance to say goodbye to your favorite Bard Math Majors, and wish them good luck after graduation.
—
Japheth Wood, PhD
Mathematician at the Bard Masters of Arts in Teaching Program
                   


P.S.: The intent of each session is to create a friendly and safe context for exploration and mathematical thinking. We provide games and puzzles that help build mathematical intuition and logical thinking, a hands-on activity that results in a mathematical artifact to take home, and a sheet of math problems that features challenges at the middle school level.

Our activities are designed with middle school students in mind, but everyone is welcome.

Japheth Wood

I’m Japheth Wood (he/him), the Bard Math CAMP co-director, and a math professor at Bard College. CAMP (which is an acronym for Creative and Analytical Math Program) is a very special week of the year for our young math community. It's inspiring to see our students return year after year. This is our 11th summer of CAMP! We're back once again on the idyllic Bard College campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, and thankful to the CAMP students, parents, and staff, for making this mathemagical week happen. Notably, we've (finally) had our first CAMP reunion this past June, an event that I know will grow to be an integral part of what we do.

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Frances Stern

My name is Frances Stern (she/her/hers)! I’ve been teaching math at CAMP since the first year, making sure our math theme has a connection to art and computer. It’s fun to show students math that they don’t see in school. I've retired from daily teaching but continue to teach for the New York Math Circle & students who are seeking more math in their lives. My hobbies include learning to draw, paint, & juggle, reading, walking & folk dancing. I’ve written 2 books for teachers and parents called “Adding Math, Subtracting Tension” (for different age-ranges of children). They pay as much attention to how to keep out of a fight (what many parents told me is a problem) as they do to math.

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