Surfaces

June 30, 2017July 3, 2017Leave a comment

By Elizabeth Datskevych, Nina Hadley, Sabrina James, and Rachel Ruff

In our problem set for the classification of surfaces, we learned many things about dimensions, folding, and the shapes folding makes. First we learned about what a dimension is. The definition of a dimension in this math is the direction an object can go. For example a bird can go up/down, left/right, and back/forth. Next we learned about folding and twisting objects. Diagram A shows a square with arrows on its side, which are the directions to fold. When you fold you match the arrows according to if they look-alike. So when you fold Diagram A it makes a cylinder. Now Diagram B has one arrow pointing the opposite of the other so you would twist before connecting the sides. Diagram B makes a Mobius band. We could make other shapes using the arrows such as the Klein bottle, and the torus. This topic was very fun and cool and it is a subject everyone will enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#girlstalkmath #girlsrock #blog2017

Knot Theory

July 12, 2019September 2, 2019Leave a comment

by Erin Gottschalk, Simon Johnson, Meghan, Elizabeth Nguyen, and Brooke Rogers*.

*Brooke helped the group work through the problem set but was unfortunately unable to attend camp during the blog writing.

What We Did:

Knot theory has many different applications in math including algebra and geometry, and (outside of math) physics. We learned that we can use algebraic techniques to describe knots. When trying to understand knot theory we learned that it is very helpful to work in a group and read the definitions out loud. Us working together was key in understanding knot theory.

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Network Science

July 2, 2018August 9, 2018Leave a comment

By Myla James, Shania Johnson, Maya Mukerjee, and Savitha Saminathan.

Graph Theory

Here’s some definitions to help you understand our assignment:

Nodes – vertex/point.
Edges – lines connecting vertices.
Adjacent – two nodes (vertices) are adjacent if they share an edge (line).
Degree – number of edges adjacent to a particular node.

We started this problem set with learning about the difference between connected and disconnected graphs.

Connected Graph – able to travel from one node to any other through its edges.
Disconnected graph – more complex; it has components.
Components – parts of the graphs that are connected.

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Special Relativity

June 30, 2017Leave a comment

By Katie Clark, Tori Dunston, Kelly Fan, Abrianna Macklin, and McKenna Vernon

Picture a hummingbird. At any moment, it can go in any of the three dimensions it is a part of. So, it could go up and down, forwards and backwards, or left and right. But, one thing that is not taken into account is time. As it moves through space, it is also occupying time. However, we’re not used to thinking about our world in a four dimensional sense. But, as the movement of the pigeon progresses, so does time. This is known as the relationship between space and time, and it is the primary foundation that special relativity is built on. So, at any given moment, it actually can move in four dimensions at once. This can be simply modeled using a spacetime diagram.

lightcone3

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Network Science @ WPI

July 7, 2022July 29, 2022Leave a comment

By 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.

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Intro to Relativity

June 10, 2016July 25, 2016Leave a comment

By: Miranda Copenhaver, Chloe Nash, Wanda Wilkins, Lauren Behringer, and Jazmin Santillan C.

Throughout this week, we have worked through multiple problems dealing with both classical mechanics and special relativity. We found the main difference between classical mechanics and special relativity to be the assumptions made about time as a constant. This is what we mean:

In classical mechanics it is assumed that time is a constant that is observed the same for all viewers.
In special relativity time cannot be taken as a constant. Because the speed of light is the same for all observers, time-dilation occurs.

So, if you are getting a little lost it’s completely normal. We have a couple of examples of both classical mechanics and special relativity below:

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Quantum Mechanics

July 12, 2019September 2, 2019Leave a comment

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.

What is Quantum Mechanics?

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.

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Classification of Surfaces

July 12, 2019September 2, 2019Leave a comment

by Camille Clark, Layke Jones, Aekta Kallepalli, Maya Mukerjee, and Caroline Zhou.

Euler Characteristics

Euler characteristics

Euler characteristics are defined by the equation V- E + F = 2 where V = number of vertices, E = number of edges or nodes, and F = number of faces. Sometimes though, the equation V – E + F = 2 does not work for all situations because the solution can give various outcomes due to the dimensions and simplicity of the object. If 2 objects are topologically the same, they will have the same Euler characteristics. For all simple polygons, the Euler characteristics equal one. Figures with holes don’t follow these conventions as the holes in these figures add additional faces and edges not proportional to the formulas for simple figures.

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Alice Silverberg: A Snapshot of her Mathematical Career

July 2, 2021July 7, 2021Leave a comment

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.

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RSA Encryption Cryptography

July 2, 2018August 6, 2018Leave a comment

By Camille Clark, Layke Jones, Isabella Lane, Aza McFadden*, and Lizbeth Otero.

*Aza helped the group work through the problem set but was unfortunately unable to attend camp during the blog writing.

Cryptography is a field of coding and decoding information. It relies on the framework of number theory. Therefore, it can be used to connect theories as well as teaching others the fundamental properties of integers. Relevant number theory topics are modular arithmetic, prime factorization, greatest common divisor, and theorems such as the Chinese Remainder Theorem and Euler’s Theorem. This blog post will focus on the first three topics.

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