Congratulation to Dr. Karin Saoub, who was recently named the Dr. M. Paul Capp & Constance Whitehead Professor of Mathematics. A prestigious honor, this 5-year award provides funding for a physics or mathematics professor in order to supplement their efforts of furthering their research and of providing students with meaningful research experiences. Once a purely…
Whew! What a week! Not only was it the week right after Spring Break (which is always a tough week), but it also happened to be a very busy mathematical week! Thursday, March 14 was Pi Day! Pi, a mathematical constant, was originally defined as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, i.e.…
Back in 2009, the Pew Research Center did a survey to see how prevalent a belief in ghosts is in America. They found that about 29% of Americans said “they have felt in touch with someone who has died” and about 18% said “they have been in the presence of a ghost” (“Many Americans Mix…
One thing that really boggles my mind is how quickly the world has changed. Yes, I remember when computers were slowly becoming the norm in the home and at schools. In school, we had designated times when we could go to the computer lab and learn how to type (thanks, Mavis Beacon), play with Logo…
How are Math and Baking related? Well, Tuesday, March 14, 2017 was Pi Day, a day entirely devoted to Pi = π ≈ 3.14. And, as mathematicians can also be quite “punny”, we relate “pi” to “pie”. I mean, typically they are both related to circles. Anyway, to celebrate Pi Day, the Roanoke College Math Club has…
Well, it’s tough to admit, but on Feb 21, 2017, I was pigged…or, rather, my office was pigged. Why bring this up on a math blog post? Well, you may have heard about the game Pass the Pigs, which can be a very educational game in that it teaches people about probability. This game is very similar…
Bowling…what a great way to start off the semester! The RC Math Club sponsored a bowling night tonight, and of course, it got a little crazy. It began normally – some students showed off their ability to bowl without getting the ball in the gutter, while others (myself included) just tried to alternate between the two…
Wow, what a whirlwind of a semester so far! I just realized that November is just around the corner! Where did October go? I’m sure our students are wondering the same thing. We’ve had quite some fun with the Roanoke College Math Club this Fall. So far we’ve learned about the game Farkle and the…
The weekend of April 15, five Roanoke College students and three faculty members traveled to Germantown, MD to attend the Spring MAA Sectional Meeting, which was held at Montgomery College. This conference attracts a wide variety of mathematicians from MD, DC, and VA. Some are more applied mathematicians, some are more pure mathematicians, most are researchers,…
Last week was a busy week for the MCSP department at Roanoke College. March 14 is known as Pi Day to many people, and it is a day celebrating the number Pi = π ≈ 3.14159… π cannot be written as a fraction, which is part of the reason why it is so intriguing. People spend…
