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2014 AMC 10B at Bard College on Wed, Feb 19th, 4pm

Dear Math Problem Solvers,

The Bard Math Circle invites you to take the AMC 10B math contest at Bard College on Wednesday, February 19th starting at 4pm. The contest will be followed by pizza and an engaging math talk. There is no fee for your participation.

 

Register Now: goo.gl/baUXF6


Registration is open to all students in grade 10 or below who will be 17.5 years or younger on February 19th. Space is limited, and seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

 

Date: Wednesday February 19, 2014
Time: 4:00pm-6:30pm
Location: Bard College Science Building (RKC)


The AMC 10B is a 25 question, 75 minute multiple choice exam, and we’ll start promptly at 4:00pm. The contest will be followed by pizza, and an engaging math talk by Bard College math professor and chair of the math department, Greg Landweber, speaking on Quaternions, Octonions, and Clifford Algebras.

 

Please extend this invitation to your friends! Forward this email, print and post the attached flyer, and spread the word.

 

The AMC 10B is a challenging exam. If you’re not sure if you should take it, try out previous exams on the Art of Problem Solving website: http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Wiki/index.php/AMC_10_Problems_and_Solutions . You can also use this as a resource to prepare.

 
Sincerely,

     Japheth Wood, PhD
—

 

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Purple Comet

 

This coming semester, in addition to hosting the AMC 10, we are going to host the Purple Comet Math Meet for middle school students in April. This competition is formatted a little differently from the AMC in that students form into teams of up to six. We plan on having several prep sessions to help students get used to working on problems with their group, as well as to work on general problem-solving skills. The exact competition date is flexible, and will be determined based on team availability.
We will hold three preparatory sessions at Bard on the following dates. These sessions will help acquaint students with Purple Comet style questions, general problem solving techniques, and will get them used to solving problems in a group. Attendance at these sessions is strongly recommended.
Sessions:
Sunday, February 9th at 1:00 PM
Sunday, March 2nd at 1:00 PM
Sunday, March 16th at 1:00 PM
The February session will also serve to introduce students to their teams and to fix a date for the actual meet.

To register for the Purple Comet, please fill out the form below. We will register the teams participating with the Purple Comet, please do not additionally sign up on their site. We have a registration form for individuals, who we will arrange into teams. Alternatively, if you would like to form a team with your peers, you can use the group registration form to sign up together. Teams that have all members from the same school qualify for a different category in the contest. Teams may only have up to six members. Please also fill out the waiver form below, or we will not be able to host you at Bard.

Team Registration:
Waiver and Emergency Contact Info (Every student participating must fill this out individually):
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1iV089A-ZYYvkT_8zk1hGsaZyKl0JxSPKnJfjyjSsNvk/viewform
For more information about Purple Comet visit:
http://purplecomet.org/home/home
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Summer Math Programs

It’s time to start thinking of the summer. Many students attend summer academic programs, and here are lists of the math camps that have the best reputations across the country:

These can be very different programs, so please leave questions, comments or anecdotes in the comments below.

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Supporting your Child as a High Achiever in Math and Science

While students took the AMC 8 Exam at Bard College on November 19, 2013, parents were invited to attend a panel discussion on Supporting your Child as a High Achiever in Math and Science. Here is some information about the panel members, panel discussion, and additional information sheets below.

PANEL MEMBERS

Halle Kananack, (moderator) math educator and consultant
Halle Kananack is a K-12 math coach. She also leads professional development sessions for teachers, and is a writer for a Common Core-aligned math curriculum. A former middle school and high school math teacher, Halle also taught at SUNY Ulster, through the Bard Prison Initiative, and for a variety of adult-ed and GED-prep programs. Halle is passionate about math education and its potential to mentally empower us. She believes that genuine understanding, creative thinking, and having fun are essential ingredients to the math experience.

Ben Houston, STEM Professional
Ben Houston is the parent of an 8th grader and a 4th grader who both excel at math and science. He is a licensed professional engineer and currently works in digital mapping, having cross trained in cartography, geodesy and surveying. To him, math and science are like art: something found in the beauty of everyday life, and by making such topics simply an extension of everyday life as opposed to isolated academic endeavors, kids can then be free to explore them with fun, freedom and creativity.

Jing Ju, Parent
Jing Ju is a full-time mom of two boys. She was previously a software engineer with advanced degrees in science and engineering. She grew up in China, and everyone in her family loves math.
She has a positive attitude towards math and really believes that Math is beautiful, math is fun, and math is straightforward.
Jing Ju has higher academic standards, and she helps kids practice math skills through games.
She encourages kids to explore their math potential. They are allowed to learn math according to their own pace.

Deborah Mosher, NY State Master Teacher
Debby Mosher is a math teacher at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook New York, where she has taught 7th grade math and 7th grade accerated math for 15 years. Previously, she was a computer programmer at IBM where she worked on mathematical modeling of computer software and hardware. She recently was named a Master Teacher in New York State. One of her mathematical interests is learning about the lives and contributions of famous mathematicians in history, and using that material to create excitement for students in math class.

Japheth Wood, Bard Math Professor
Japheth Wood is a math professor at Bard College. He directs the Bard Math Circle and the New York Math Circle, and works with both pre-service and in-service math teachers in New York City and the Mid-Hudson Valley. He sees math circles as a low-stakes math enrichment activity that has potential to inspire and prepare students and teachers mathematically, and a way to connect mathematical professionals, teachers and parents to support mathematical education in ways that are not possible otherwise.

Questions

For Math, we have heard about AMC, MathCounts, MathOlympiad, CML etc, what are such similar, well defined programs and resources for Science for Middle Schoolers?

What career opportunities can my daughter explore in math and science, and how can I support her when she starts to think about career choices and colleges with a focus in math and science?

Does Bard support math circle students by offering any summer programs for students?

Additional Information

Supporting High Achieving Middle School Math Students
Eli Byers & Deborah Mosher, New York State Master Teachers

Information Sheet from Mrs. Lin

More information to come! If there is information you’d like to include but isn’t here, please email bardmathcircle@gmail.com.

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Kingston Math Circle for November, 2013

At this month’s math circle in the Kingston Library, we focused on the SET game above all our other wonderful puzzles and games. For those new to the game, there was the beginner’s table, and for those adept at finding those 3 card triples, we had the advanced table. Can you find any sets in these photos?

 

Most students made a cardiod curve. It’s amazing how many straight line segments can give the illusion of a curved line. There is some deeper mathematics underneath what looks like string art: given a family of straight lines like we drew in this activity, the envelope of the family of lines is a curve that is tangent to each of the lines. In this case, the envelope of the lines is a cardiod curve.

To investigate further, what is the envelope of another family of lines? On the orange sheet, we see another envelope of a family of line segments.

You can download this month’s problem set on our documents page.

See you at the next Bard Math Circle!

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October Math Circle at the Kingston Library

Our  Kingston Library math circle met for the second time this fall on Saturday. It’s very heartening to see the regular faces (each a year older, and growing fast) and the newcomers are also a welcome sight.
There was a lot of great mathematical thinking, as can be seen in this scratch work.

(note the typo – I forgot to update the date from September’s circle meeting)

We had a lot of students sharing their work on these problems at the end of class.

 

 

 

Each month we also feature a hands-on project,  and this month we made a paper cut and glue Curry’s Triangle Paradox.

What do you find disturbing in the following picture? The graph paper grid is there intentionally to help measure distances and areas. Maximizing trading potential requires access to flexible leverage options that can adapt to different market scenarios and trading strategies. Professional traders understand the importance of capital efficiency in competitive markets. A reliable high leverage broker provides dynamic solutions that automatically adjust leverage ratios based on account equity and trading volume for optimal performance.

 

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AMC 8 Registration Update

We’re less than 4 weeks away from the AMC 8 Contest, and here is an update on registration, and some other information.

Total Registration

We now have 54 students registered for the AMC 8. If everyone attended, we’d surpass last year’s attendance of 49 students (although we had 71 students register, total).

Grade Levels

Any student 14.5 years of age or younger on the day of the contest and not enrolled in grades 9, 10, 11, or 12 or equivalent is eligible to participate.
We now have:
22 Eighth graders
13 Seventh graders
9 Sixth graders
9 Fifth graders
1 Earlier grade

Schools Represented

If there are 10 or more students from a school, they form a section. At the discretion of the Bard Math Circle, we may form additional sections by grouping schools (i.e. by city or county). All the remaining students will also form a section. Certificates are given to the top 3 students in each section.
We now have this many students from the following schools. Tell your classmates, and try to form a full section!
11 Van Wyck Junior High School
8 Saugerties Junior High School
6 Union Vale Middle School
3 Lagrange Middle School
2 Fishkill Elementary School
2 Highland Middle School
2 St. Mary School, Fishkill
1 Arlington Middle School
1 Ascension Holy Trinity
1 Brinckerhoff Elementary School
1 Bulkeley Middle School
1 Gayhead Elementary School
1 Germantown Central School
1 Grant D. Morse Elementary School
1 Hagan Elementary School
1 Harry L Edson Elementary School
1 Haviland Middle School, Hyde Park, NY
1 Linden Avenue Middle School
1 MC Miller Middle School
1 Mizzentop Day School
1 Netherwood Elementary School
1 Pawling Middle School
1 Robert E. Bell Middle School
1 St. Joseph School
1 Todd Middle School
1 Vail Farm Elementary School
1 Wappingers Junior High School

DO NOT BRING A CALCULATOR!

No problems on the contest will require the use of a calculator. However, you may bring rulers, protractors, and erasers. We’ll provide #2 pencils and unmarked scratch paper (but you can bring those too).

Information Collected on the Answer Form

Before the exam, you must fill in the following information, so don’t forget it!

  1. Last Name
  2. First Name
  3. Middle Initial
  4. Section Letter (we’ll announce these later)
  5. Age/date of birth, grade and gender.

Prepare for the AMC 8!

We are hosting a practice class for the AMC8 on Friday, November 8th at 5:00 PM. We will be looking at some example problems and going over some problem-solving strategies. Obviously we can only accomplish a limited amount on a single Friday evening, but if you are interested in preparing for the test this practice session is great.
Space in the class is limited. To request a spot please use the form at this link. Spots will be given on a first-come-first-serve basis.
You can also check our AMC 8 Page for online resources to prepare.

 

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The Bard Math Circle returns to the Kingston Library

Our math circle programming has started, and our very first meeting at the Kingston Library this fall will take place on Saturday, September 28th, 1-3pm. We’re all looking forward to seeing you there! Please invite a friend.

We plan our events with middle school and upper elementary school students in mind, but all are welcome. Students have many math activities to choose from: math puzzles and logic games, a hands-on math project to take home and share, and a problem sheet that features challenging math problems at the middle school level. Bard math majors are there to share their passion for mathematics and to work with the students. At the end of the session, everyone shares their solutions to the problems.

News and Announcements

We’ve moved our webpage to our own URL: bardmathcircle.org. Please take a look – the site features blog posts of interest, and also information on each of our programs.

This November we’ll host the AMC 8 exam for the second year, along with an advanced math talk for middle school students. The registration form is already posted on our web page: http://www.bardmathcircle.org/p/amc-8.html. You could sign up, even before we announce that registration is open!
September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month. Make sure to get your library card this Saturday!
We use this email account to make announcements and send reminders about our programs. You’re receiving this email since you’re on our Kingston Library email list. If you don’t want to be on this list, or if there are other Bard Math Circle programs that you’re interested in, just send us a friendly email.
Are you interested in volunteering with the Bard Math Circle? We’re currently looking for high school and college students to volunteer at our library programs. We’re also looking for mathematical adults to help us expand to other libraries around the region. And we’re in need of a web master to help maintain our webpage, email lists, and other online presence. Please write us if you’d like to know more about these opportunities.
Thanks to La Voz magazine for offering this Spanish-language version of the above.
 
Vuelve el Círculo de Matemáticas de Bard a Kingston
 
El primer encuentro del Círculo de Matemáticas de Bard College se llevará a cabo este sábado 28 de septiembre de 1:00 pm a 3:00 pm en la Biblioteca Kingston (55 Franklin St), que será el punto de encuentro durante este otoño. Los siguientes encuentros serán el 26 de octubre, 23 de noviembre y 21 de diciembre.
 
¡Todos tenemos ganas de volver a verlos allí! Así que por favor inviten a un amigo y asistan al Círculo de Matemáticas.


Las actividades fueron pensadas para estudiantes de la escuela media y escuela primaria, sin embargo, ¡todos son bienvenidos! Los estudiantes podrán elegir y ser parte de distintas actividades de matemáticas como: acertijos matemáticos y juegos de lógica, proyectos prácticos de matemáticas para llevar a casa y compartir, y una hoja de problemas que desafían el nivel matemático de la escuela media.

Habrá estudiantes de Bard, que eligieron la matemática como su carrera, compartiendo su pasión por la misma, y ayudando a los niños a llevar a cabo estas actividades. Al final de la sesión, todo el mundo comparte sus soluciones a los problemas.
 
Para más información visite http://www.bardmathcircle.org/p/kingston.html.
Atención: Septiembre es el mes para obtener una tarjeta de la biblioteca a nivel nacional. ¡Asegúrese de obtener su tarjeta de la biblioteca este sábado!
 
Más noticias
En el mes de noviembre se organizará un examen llamado AMC 8, junto con una charla de matemáticas avanzadas para estudiantes de secundaria. El formulario de inscripción ya está publicado en la página web: http://www.bardmathcircle.org/p/amc-8.html . Usted puede inscribirse, ¡incluso antes de que anuncien la apertura de inscripciones!

¿Está interesado en ser voluntario en el Círculo de Matemáticas de Bard? En estos momentos estamos en busca de estudiantes de escuela secundaria (high school) y de universidad que quieran ser voluntarios en nuestros programas. También estamos buscando adultos matemáticos que quieran ayudar a expandir este maravilloso programa a otras bibliotecas de la región. A demás necesitamos una persona que nos ayude con nuestra página web y publicaciones en línea. Si desea saber más información, ¡escribanos! bardmathcircle@gmail.com

 

—
Publicado por La Voz en La Voz el 9/26/2013 10:54:00 a.m.

 
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Have you read your Math Munch lately?

Hello Math Lovers,

It looks like Summer is slowly coming to a close, and the Bard Math Circle will be phasing back into action over the next month. As we wait for that, I’d like to ask you,
Have you read your Math Munch lately?
Math Munch is a weekly review of the mathematical web, and full of exciting tidbits and items for the mathematically curious. The articles are curated by an amazing trio of math teachers:
Go ahead and browse Math Munch, and if you see something you’d like for the Bard Math Circle, please let Japheth know about it! 
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SPMPS in the news

Bard released a very nice article about the Summer Program in Mathematical Problem Solving. Go ahead and read the article:

While the program was in session, I provided updates to the Bard community, and among the many wonderful and supportive responses was this question:

Curiously do we offer any programs like this for local kids with the same academic curiosity and promise?

I love this question! Of course, the answer is very complicated and nuanced.

On the face of it, not at all. Bard does not provide a 3 week sleep-away math camp for local kids on this beautiful, secluded campus. No all-star math staff selected from a national search for instructors who have the deepest mathematical knowledge and incredible experience and success at igniting mathematical passion and excitement. No amazing math curriculum, where students can delve deeply in to advanced mathematics that they’d never learn in school. We don’t offer that.

But, the SPMPS students are selected from some of the most underserved NYC middle schools. Each of these schools has a very high poverty level; at least 75% of students at each school qualify for free lunch, and at most of the schools that statistic is up around 90% or 95%. The typical student at these schools is far below grade level, and part of what makes SPMPS work is attention to building up necessary technical skills that are just plain missing.

However, the mid-Hudson Valley has all that too – not just urban poverty, but rural poverty too, with many students who have fallen behind, yet have an amazing intellectual potential.

We also have the Bard Math Circle, a small program with huge potential. The most consistent program happens monthly at the Kingston Library, and now the annual AMC 8 contest.

What do you think? Where could this go? Let’s discuss this in the comments.

Japheth