The talks below are available for visits by WCU mathematics faculty in middle school or high school classrooms, extra-curricular events, Math Club meetings, etc. If you would like to invite a particular presenter to one or several of your classes, or to an event you are sponsoring in your school, please contact them early so that a satisfying meeting time can be arranged. You may also consider a visit to our campus with your students and include one or several of these talks as part of the day’s activity.
Title: Pythagoras, his Followers, and his Theorem
Presenter: Sloan Despeaux, despeaux@email.wcu.edu, 828-227-3825
Abstract: A 50- minute talk on Pythagoras, the Pythagoreans, the Pythagorean theorem, proofs of the theorem, and the theorem BEFORE Pythagoras.
Level: Middle school.
Title: The First Attacks on a ‘Man-Eating Problem’: the Four Color Problem in Nineteenth-Century Britain
Presenter: Sloan Despeaux, despeaux@email.wcu.edu, 828-227-3825
Abstract: A 50-minute talk on the history of the Four Color Problem. This problem took over a century to prove, and engaged some of the best mathematical minds of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Level: High school
Title: How proportional are we?
Presenter: Axelle Faughn *, afaughn@email.wcu.edu, 828-227-3829
Abstract: How do paleonthologists reconstruct an entire skeleton from only a few bones found in the ground? How can a forensic scientist determine the height, weight, and age of a body with as little evidence as a skull? We will use measurements and proportionality to show how mathematics combines with science in these real-world situations. – 50-90 minutes.
Level: Middle school
*Note: Dr. Faughn will only be giving talks during the spring semester, starting January 2009. You may however contact her earlier to check for availability.
Title: What is it like to major in Mathematics at WCU? What will I do afterwards?
Presenter: A group of students accompanied by Axelle Faughn *, afaughn@email.wcu.edu, 828-227-3829
Abstract: Thinking about College? Why not choose the Mathematics and Computer Science Department at WCU? Currently enrolled students will answer questions regarding our programs, life on campus, and what makes WCU unique.
Level: High school
*Note: Dr. Faughn will only be giving talks during the spring semester, starting January 2009. You may however contact her earlier to check for availability.
Title: Fun with cryptography
Presenter: Tuval Foguel, tsfoguel@email.wcu.edu, 828-227-3831
Abstract: cryptography is concerned with message confidentiality (i.e., encryption) — conversion of messages from a comprehensible form into an incomprehensible one and back again at the other end, rendering it unreadable by interceptors or eavesdroppers without secret knowledge (namely the key needed for decryption of that message). Applications of cryptography include ATM cards, computer passwords, and electronic commerce. We present a basic introduction to public key cryptography and Latin squares, then we have the students encrypting and decrypting messages.
Room requirements / constraints: I would need to use a computer projector and connect my laptop to it.
Level: To understand this talk, a student would have to finished Algebra I.
Length: One class period… I can adjust to 50 min or 75 min classes, etc.
Title: Connect the Dots from Geometry to Botany
Presenter: Kathy Jaqua, kjaqua@email.wcu.edu, 828-227-3826
Abstract: How can logic and geometric ideas help us determine what tree a particular leaf came from? In this activity, students learn to read a dichotomous key and identify common leaves from the area. – 50-90 minutes.
Level: Middle school or High School
Title: Art and Mathematics
Presenter: Kathy Jaqua, kjaqua@email.wcu.edu, 828-227-3826
Abstract: Using a variety of grids, students create different cartoon-like pictures that show the effects of nonstandard grids. – 50-90 minutes.
Level: Middle school or High School
Title: 2-D, 3-D, and Mystery Buildings
Presenter: Kathy Jaqua, kjaqua@email.wcu.edu, 828-227-3826
Abstract: Using building blocks, students learn how to read three-dimensional tables and translate them into shapes. These ideas form the basis for multi-dimensional analysis of data at a beginner’s level. This activity can be tailored to more or less complexity to include the topics of reading data tables, creating buildings from tables, exploring 3-D shapes through contour plots, even double integrals from a discrete viewpoint.
– 50-90 minutes.
Level: Middle school or High School
Title: “H1N1 and Mathematics? Modeling the Spread of a Disease”
Presenter: Erin McNelis, emcnelis@email.wcu.edu, 828-227-3947
Abstract: For this talk, students will participate in a simulation of the spread of a contagious disease (just cups and dice, no added bacteria or germs involved), and we’ll collect data to see if we can identify trends. We’ll also determine how to represent the spread of the disease in terms of a mathematical system of equations, then implement these in Excel and compare them to the data from our simulations. Finally, we’ll discuss how our simulation and model could change to better represent other scenarios --what if you can get vaccinated? What if can you get sick more than once? What if it takes a long time to recover? How is this similar to the spread of a rumor?
Room requirements/ Constraints: A computer that can be projected to screen in the room (preferable; though I can bring a laptop and possibly a projector).
Levels: Middle grades – high school. The talk can be adjusted to the level of the audience in terms of mathematics.
Concepts that can be discussed/used: Data collection, dot plots/time series, logistic functions, horizontal asymptotes or limiting values, discrete math, parameters vs. variables, difference equations, differential equations, formulas in Excel