MAT Community Tea & Coffee Hour Dates for Spring 2025

Prof. Bockting Uncategorized

Throughout the year, the MAT Department hosts a number of informal events meant to help build and sustain our mathematical sciences community here at DePaul. These events provide an opportunity to meet with fellow MAT students, at both undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as MAT faculty members in a relaxed setting.

We will have five teas during the spring quarter:

  • Friday, 4/4 at 1:30-2:45 pm
  • Friday, 4/25 at 1:30-2:45 pm
  • Friday, 5/9 at 1:15-2:45 pm
  • Friday, 5/16 at 1:30-2:45 pm 
  • Friday, 5/30 at 1:30-2:45 pm 

These community hours will take place in the MAT Department office suite (on the 5th floor of SAC, roughly SAC 546). Light refreshments, such as coffee, tea, and cookies, will be served. We hope that you can join us.

Solution to Mathematical Toy Box – WQ2025

Prof. Bockting Uncategorized

Two circles are concentric. A chord c units long cuts across the larger, tangent to the smaller. What is the area of the shaded region in terms of c?

Solution: [From MT Nov 1991]

Let the radii of the smaller and larger circles be r and R respectively, so the area we seek is given by ℼR2 – ℼr2.  Now, let A be the center of both circles, let point B be the point of tangency of the chord, and D be the point of intersection with the larger circle, as indicated.  Now, because triangle ABD is right, we have r2 + (c/2)2 = R2, so that R2 – r2 = (c/2)2.  The shaded area is then equal to ℼc2/4.

 

DMC Spring Conference Trips

Prof. Bockting Events, Math Activity, Student Opportunities

The DePaul Math Club sent a small group of about 5 students on a back-to-back conference trip over Spring Break.  First they headed down to Joliet on Friday for the annual ISMAA meeting at the University of St. Francis. That night, they drove even further down to Terra Haute, Indiana, so that they could catch Rose-Hulman’s Undergraduate Research Conference the next day. Funnily enough, the troupe was mostly made up of graduate students. Even so, they all had a blast!

 

They saw all sorts of presentations, from urban topology to aquariums of elliptic curves. Although many talks were geared towards more of an undergraduate audience, there was plenty for our algebraist graduate students to enjoy, too. Going to two separate conferences in two days was a lot of driving. But it was also a lot of fascinating mathematics. Plus, the combination of bison spotting (that’s right, Kaelan and Graham were up close and personal with a herd of bison, please ask for pics! See the sample below!), followed by a sushi dinner at the end of the journey made it all worthwhile.

Bison Video!!!

     

Solution to Mathematical Toy Box – AQ2024 #2

Prof. Bockting Problems & Solutions

The integers 1 thru 100 are written on individual cards, and those 100 cards are mixed into a hat. Aisha draws one card at a time, without replacement, until she draws a card relatively prime to all the cards she has already collected. What is the maximum number of cards Aisha could draw in this game?

Solution: 90.  One can construct a sequence of maximal length as follows:

  • Starting with 2, include all the even numbers from 2 through 100, a total of 50.
  • Ignoring 1, now include all the odd numbers that are not primes over 50. Since there are 10 primes between 50 and 100, there are 49-10=39 of these.
  • The 90th pick will now either be a 1 or a prime over 50, all of which will be relatively prime to all those on the list.

MAT Community Tea & Coffee Hour Dates for Winter 2025

Prof. Bockting Events

Throughout the year, the MAT Department hosts a number of informal events meant to help build and sustain our mathematical sciences community here at DePaul. These events provide an opportunity to meet with fellow MAT students, at both undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as MAT faculty members in a relaxed setting.

We will have five teas during the winter quarter:

  • Friday, 1/17 at 1:30-2:45 pm
  • Friday, 1/31 at 1:30-2:45 pm
  • Friday, 2/14 at 1:30-2:45 pm
  • Friday, 2/28 at 10:30-11:45 am (note the different time)
  • Friday, 3/14 at 1:15-1:55 pm (note the different time)

These community hours will take place in the MAT Department office suite (on the 5th floor of SAC, roughly SAC 546). Light refreshments, such as coffee, tea, and cookies, will be served. We hope that you can join us.

Solution to Mathematical Toy Box – AQ2024 #1

Prof. Bockting Problems & Solutions

The coefficients of the quadratic function f(x)=ax2+bx+c are chosen from the numbers 1 through 6 by three independent rolls of a fair die. What is the probability that the parabolic graph of  y=f(x) has its vertex on the x-axis?

Solution:  5/216 . There are  63=216 possible outcomes for the ordered triple of coefficients (a, b, c). The vertex of the graph will lie on the x-axis if and only if the discriminant b2-4ac=0. Since b must therefore be even, the possibilities can be narrowed down quickly to these five:

(1, 2, 1), (2, 4, 2), (1, 4, 4), (4, 4, 1), and (3, 6, 3).

Alumni Panel on PhD Programs

Prof. Bockting Events, Outreach

We invite you to attend a panel discussion with recent DePaul alumni on their experiences in PhD programs!

Who: Anyone who is curious about PhD programs in science and math

What: A panel discussion in which recent DePaul alumni discuss their experiences applying for and taking part in PhD programs in pure and applied math.

When: November 7 at 4:30 PM

Where: in Arts & Letters Hall, Room 308 and on Zoom at https://depaul.zoom.us/j/95804448725

We hope to see you there!

Combinatorics of Coxeter Groups (WQ class)

Prof. Bockting Uncategorized

Looking for an interesting class to fill out your winter schedule? Check out Dr. Petersen’s course on the combinatorics of Coxeter groups! In the class, you will use combinatorial thinking to understand the structure of Coxeter groups. The primary example is how combinatorics of permutations connect to properties of the symmetric group.  A PDF of the flyer can be found here.