by Knot Nerds
What is knot theory?
Have you ever tied your shoes before? I mean, I hope you have! So, what in the world does tying your shoes have to do with math? Here comes knot theory! Knot theory is a sub-topic of topology that studies mathematical knots, links, and their permutations. Knots can be represented by polynomials and can thus be compared to one another.
Continue readingby Jess, Jianna, Jaelani, Karen, and Layomi
First of all, let’s start with what fossil fuels are. Fossil fuels are fuels derived from natural resources such as coal, oil, and natural gas. These resources are not reliable because they will not be renewed in the human lifetime; they also emit C02, which can be very harmful to the environment when released in large amounts.
Continue readingBy Maddie, Nitya, Amel, Alyssa
Introduction
We were part of this year’s Girls Talk Math program. This was a great opportunity that we came across in different ways. It has helped us learn about different math topics that we may not have had the opportunity to discover on our own. This topic may seem boring at first, but they all have their individual charms. The topic we chose was Network Science, and together we got to learn about things such as coding on Python.
Continue readingBy: Jourdan Moore, Emma Holzbach, Nicole Godwin, Naa Aryee, and Athalya Wakonyo
Have you ever made a secret language or code with your friend so that only you two would know what’s being said? You’re in luck! With the help of RSA Encryption Cryptography at Girls Talk Math we’ve learned about the world of mathematics, more specifically RSA, as well as Modular Arithmetic, Greatest Common Divisor and related theorems.
RSA is one of the first public-key cryptosystems created by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman in 1977, and is now the most widely used cryptography algorithm in the world.
By: Claudia, Meghan, Elizabeth, Yunjing
Born on October 6, 1958, Alice Silverberg is a 1979 Harvard University graduate who then received her master’s degree and Ph.D from Princeton University under the supervision of Goro Shimura. Her academic career began at Ohio State University where she worked as an Assistant and Associate Professor of Mathematics from 1984 to 1996. In 2004, she moved to the University of California, Irvine as a Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science. For the next twenty years, Silverberg gave lectures at universities around the world and served as an active member of the nominating committee of the American Mathematical Society. Since 2008, Silverberg has worked as an editor for the Association for Women in Mathematics. She is also the writer of her own blog, Alice’s Adventures in Numberland, where she addresses prominent social issues of sexism and discrimination in her field.
Continue readingBy Clara, Ceren, Zoe, and Jess
Dr. Candice Price had always been good at math. But when her third-grade teacher presented “Schoolhouse Rock!–Multiplication Rock!” to her class, her passion truly began. The 30-minute multiplication lesson inspired her everlasting enthusiasm for mathematics. It is this inspiration that drove her to be the accomplished female mathematician that she is today.
Continue readingBy Aynsley, Carrington, Susan, Tehya, and others
In recent years, more and more women are using math to tackle serious social issues such as gender inequality and lack of diversity in STEM careers. These trailblazers pave the way for the newest generation of women and minorities in STEM, inspiring them to become active for what they believe in. One such example is seen within the field of mathematics: Dr. Amanda Ruiz of the University of San Diego.
Continue readingby Jillian Byrnes, La’Ziyah Henry, Delphine Liu, Sophie Ussery, and Elizabeth Whetzel.
What is mathematical epidemiology? Well, mathematical epidemiology is when mathematicians use math to predict outcomes in various statistical problems. These problems include growth in infectious bacteria, change in population, and even the effects of climate change. Why is this used? It is used because it doesn’t need a complete set of data to figure out a solution, as long as you can create an equation and plug in the values.
Who uses it? Mathematicians and scientists use it in fields such as biotechnology, medical science, civil engineering, and as public health professionals.
by Nya Batson, Monique Dacanay, Emily Gao, and Staci Tranquille.
Hello! And welcome to the realm of quantum mechanics! First off, what in the world is quantum mechanics? Let’s start with a brief introduction.
Quantum mechanics is one of the most important branches of physics. It focuses on the laws of nature at three different levels: molecular, atomic, and subatomic. Quantum mechanics has a variety of important concepts; the following are some that we learned through our problem set: Planck’s law, the photoelectric effect, and wave-particle duality. A crucial element of quantum mechanics is understanding that everything has characteristics of both waves and particles. We will touch on this and many other topics later on.
by Alysia Davis, Alyssa Drumgold, Pascale Gomez, Delaney Washington, and Auden Wolfe.
As children we grew up counting in the base ten system (1, 2, 3, etc). However, base ten is only one of many numerical systems. Over these past to weeks at Girls Talk Math at UNC, our task was to explore other number systems that are not as frequently used as the base 10 system, specifically binary and hexadecimal number systems.
The exact definition of binary is related to using a system of numerical notation that has 2 rather than 10 as a base. This means only two single digits are used, 0 and 1.
Binary is used for data storage. Binary basically makes it easier for computer processors to understand and interpret incoming information/instructions.
Binary was first discussed by Gottfried Leibniz in 1689 but binary numerical systems were not put to use until a binary converter was created hundreds of years later. The binary system was officially implemented just before the beginning of the nineteenth century.
girlstalkmath.com 