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 Mathematics Department Home Page |
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Undergraduate Notes
Ways to Get Involved with Other Students and Faculty in the Department
Missouri
MAA Collegiate
Mathematics Competition
The
14th Missouri
MAA Collegiate Mathematics Competition
was held on the campus of Truman State University (Kirksville, MO) on April 16-17, 2009. A total of 30 teams from 15 colleges and universities across the state participated. Congratulations to our two teams who took first and third place:
There is an archive of problems and solutions for the Missouri MAA Competition, as well as an archive of photos.
The next Missouri MAA Competition will be held April 8-9, 2010 (Thursday evening-Friday morning) on the campus of the University of Central Missouri (Warrensburg, Missouri). Warrensburg is in the western part of the state, not too far SE from Kansas City. Some students may also stay for the Awards Banquet on Friday evening and return to WU on Saturday.
See article in the Washington University Record
William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition Several students from WU competed in this 6 hour competition on Saturday, December 6, 2008. A total of 3627 students from 545 colleges and universities in Canada and the United States participated in the Competition. There were teams from 405 institutions. The Washington University Team, consisting of Jeremy Diepenbrock, Josh Moloney, and Andy Soffer placed 48th.
Students partiticipating in the Putnam Competition also receive individual rankings: three Washington University students ranked in the top 300 among all the participants. Congratulations to Jeremy Diepenbrock, Tim Wiser, and Alex Anderson.
The next Putnam Competition will be held on Saturday, December 5, 2009. More information is available at the Putnam Archive. There's also a useful Putnam web page maintained at Santa Clara University. Feel free to contact Professor Richard Rochberg or Professor Carl Bender (Physics) if you have questions. During the fall semester, there will be a "Putnam Problem Session" in which all students will be welcome to participate -- just for fun, or in preparation for the next Competition.
In the competitions from 1976-2008, Washington University teams have placed in the "top ten" in 19 of 33 competitions, including eleven "top five" performances.
Undergraduate Math Club Last Meeting for Spring 2009: Monday, April 20
By the way, there are many ways to find out if/when a Math Club event is happening. Other than getting emails from us, you can check our Facebook group and our Math Club website. We're also on The Link; we've been having a couple of issues with it, but we hope to have full functionality soon. Also, if you're interested in hearing about a specific topic at Math Club, or would like to give a talk yourself, feel free to email us.
For more information or to get involved, come to a meeting, contact the Math Club President, Shubho Sadhu, or contact the Math Club advisor, Professor John McCarthy.
Graduate Student
Joe Bohanan speaking on Adventures
in Group Theory
with fun and pizza.
Study Abroad
Math Circles is an outreach activity to middle school and high school students. It is part of a nationwide program in which our department participates. Dr. Blake Thornton is the local sponsor. Here is an article from the W.U. Record about Math Circles. Send an e-mail to Dr. Thornton if you'd like to participate or talk with him about the program.
Women in Mathematics Math majors are encouraged to think about 12th annual Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2010. The conference will probably be held in late January or early February.
This is a premier conference of this kind which several female majors have attended this conference in the past. All of them reported it was a very good experience. You can read some of their comments here. (The upcoming UNL conference this year, in spring 2009, is already full and registration is closed.)
There is a possibility that our department can help out (or perhaps fully cover) travel expenses. Contact Professor Ron Freiwald if you think you might be interested.
Incoming Students Fall 2009: for information about the ALEKS Program, the Calculus Placement Test, AP Credit, the Freshman Seminar Math 201, and other useful material, use the following link for Prospects, Incoming Freshmen & Transfer Students |
Ways to Get Involved with Other Students and Faculty in the Department
was held on the campus of Truman State University (Kirksville, MO) on April 16-17, 2009. A total of 30 teams from 15 colleges and universities across the state participated. Congratulations to our two teams who took first and third place:
First Place
WU Team A: Alex Cloninger,Jeremy Diepenbrock, Jon Swenson
Third Place WU Team B: Joe Hutchings, Melissa Lim, Andy Soffer
Third Place WU Team B: Joe Hutchings, Melissa Lim, Andy Soffer
 |
| Left to
right: Joe Hutchings, Melissa Lim, Jon Swenson, Andy Soffer, Alex Cloninger, Jeremy Diepenbrock |
There is an archive of problems and solutions for the Missouri MAA Competition, as well as an archive of photos.
The next Missouri MAA Competition will be held April 8-9, 2010 (Thursday evening-Friday morning) on the campus of the University of Central Missouri (Warrensburg, Missouri). Warrensburg is in the western part of the state, not too far SE from Kansas City. Some students may also stay for the Awards Banquet on Friday evening and return to WU on Saturday.
See article in the Washington University Record
William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition Several students from WU competed in this 6 hour competition on Saturday, December 6, 2008. A total of 3627 students from 545 colleges and universities in Canada and the United States participated in the Competition. There were teams from 405 institutions. The Washington University Team, consisting of Jeremy Diepenbrock, Josh Moloney, and Andy Soffer placed 48th.
Students partiticipating in the Putnam Competition also receive individual rankings: three Washington University students ranked in the top 300 among all the participants. Congratulations to Jeremy Diepenbrock, Tim Wiser, and Alex Anderson.
The next Putnam Competition will be held on Saturday, December 5, 2009. More information is available at the Putnam Archive. There's also a useful Putnam web page maintained at Santa Clara University. Feel free to contact Professor Richard Rochberg or Professor Carl Bender (Physics) if you have questions. During the fall semester, there will be a "Putnam Problem Session" in which all students will be welcome to participate -- just for fun, or in preparation for the next Competition.
In the competitions from 1976-2008, Washington University teams have placed in the "top ten" in 19 of 33 competitions, including eleven "top five" performances.
Undergraduate Math Club Last Meeting for Spring 2009: Monday, April 20
Our last talk of the year will
be on Benford's Law. Prof. Rochberg is giving the talk
on Monday, April 20th, 5:30 PM, in Cupples I 199. His abstract is below. As always,
we'll have pizza and drinks afterwards. Good luck on finals!
Title: Benford’s Law
Abstract: If you go through the first few pages of a newspaper and list all the numbers you find there, what percent of them do you suspect will start with the digit 1? What is the general pattern? What is the history of this observation? What is the theory behind it? Why is the Internal Revenue Service interested?
As always--free pizza and drinks!
Shubho
Math Club President
Title: Benford’s Law
Abstract: If you go through the first few pages of a newspaper and list all the numbers you find there, what percent of them do you suspect will start with the digit 1? What is the general pattern? What is the history of this observation? What is the theory behind it? Why is the Internal Revenue Service interested?
As always--free pizza and drinks!
Shubho
Math Club President
By the way, there are many ways to find out if/when a Math Club event is happening. Other than getting emails from us, you can check our Facebook group and our Math Club website. We're also on The Link; we've been having a couple of issues with it, but we hope to have full functionality soon. Also, if you're interested in hearing about a specific topic at Math Club, or would like to give a talk yourself, feel free to email us.
For more information or to get involved, come to a meeting, contact the Math Club President, Shubho Sadhu, or contact the Math Club advisor, Professor John McCarthy.
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with fun and pizza.
For
other talks, see the
department's Talk
List. Talks before
Department Colloquia are
usually preceded by refreshments
(a "tea"): majors are
always
welcome at these events whether or
not they want to attend the talk itself.
Study Abroad
Math Circles is an outreach activity to middle school and high school students. It is part of a nationwide program in which our department participates. Dr. Blake Thornton is the local sponsor. Here is an article from the W.U. Record about Math Circles. Send an e-mail to Dr. Thornton if you'd like to participate or talk with him about the program.
Women in Mathematics Math majors are encouraged to think about 12th annual Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2010. The conference will probably be held in late January or early February.
This is a premier conference of this kind which several female majors have attended this conference in the past. All of them reported it was a very good experience. You can read some of their comments here. (The upcoming UNL conference this year, in spring 2009, is already full and registration is closed.)
There is a possibility that our department can help out (or perhaps fully cover) travel expenses. Contact Professor Ron Freiwald if you think you might be interested.