Education
Williams PBK: 150th Anniversary
Join us Wednesday, March 18th for a day of activities celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Williams Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest academic honor society. Events begin at 10am in Lawrence 231 where William Arms of Cornell, our distinguished visiting scholar, will give a talk in Math/Stat 341 on “The Early Years of
Lego Superstar Record!
In Math 12, The Mathematics of Lego Bricks, while we used lego bricks as a springboard to talk about a lot of interesting math (the lectures and additional comments are available here), the main goal was to successfully build the Superstar Destroyer in under 10 minutes. It was an interesting challenge to divide the work
Best Jobs 2014
According to the latest ranking by CareerCast.com, the best four jobs of 2014 are: 1. Mathematician. 2. Tenured professor. 3. Statistician. 4. Actuary. (The worst was lumberjack.)
Adding Fractions
Mathematics has got to be the most interesting of all subjects. As I was telling the wonderful math faculty at Berkshire Community College, even arithmetic is fascinating. Addition and multiplication are commutative: 4+7=7+4 and 4×7=7×4. I recall MIT Professor Michael Artin saying: When I ask my kids what’s 4×7, they answer “28.” 7×4? “28.”
π Day 3/14
Annual π Day Missive from Nick Yates ’06 Once again, Pi Day has arrived! As you probably know, pi (π) is a mathematical constant found in circles and throughout mathematics! Since pi’s decimal expansion starts off 3.14…, and today’s date is 3/14, we celebrate pi and all things mathematical on this day! <> 3.141592653589793238462643383279…, to
Rubik’s Cube Competition
An official World Cube Association Rubik’s Cube Competition filled Goodrich Hall Saturday March 2, 2014, organized by local school student Ric Donati and Professor Mihai Stoiciu. Competitors included Adam Reich ’14. Williams Record account.
Jesse Freeman ’15 on Oxford II
Math at Oxford II: Reflections After the First Term Hey Williams! Congratulations on finishing up finals. I hope everyone has an amazing break. In this post, I’ll focus on what I have learned about the math(s) curriculum at Oxford since the beginning of term. Then, I will discuss sports at Oxford in comparison to sports
“Who Says Math Has to be Boring”
Recent New York Times editorial (December 8, 2013).
Million-Second-Quiz Kaplan Gave Faculty Seminar
Nathan Kaplan, who worked with Prof. Allison Pacelli in our 2005 SMALL Undergraduate Mathematics Research Project and who gallantly competed September 13 on Million Second Quiz, gave our Faculty Seminar Friday November 22 on “Curves and Surfaces Over Finite Fields and Coding Theory.” Kaplan is now Gibbs Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Yale. On Million Second
Statistics Major Approved
The Faculty voted to approve a Major in Statistics. See the report and the editorial in the Williams Record. Description of the Major in Statistics: The major in Statistics is designed to meet three goals: to introduce some of the central ideas of information and data science, to develop problem-solving ability by teaching students to combine
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