Math is even more fun with other people!  That’s the idea behind a weekly series of events sponsored by the Math Department that brings together students, faculty, and community members every Friday afternoon.  Called “Fridays @ 1,” events rotate among math circles, applied math seminars, professional development opportunities, and tea times for socializing.

Math circles offer participants a chance to work together to investigate fun mathematical questions that don’t require any prior knowledge but that lead to rich explorations.  For instance, a recent math circle explored mathematical issues associated with gerrymandering by beginning with some simple arrangements of “voters” laid out on a 5 by 5 grid.  Participants found ways to draw “districts” so that the party that wins the popular vote still loses the election.  For example, can you divide the grid below into five districts of five voters each so that the green voters win the election? After these initial explorations, there was a discussion of how these issues are studied by research mathematicians and the effects they have had on recent court decisions.

A second example involves a puzzle called Diagonals Rule, which asks: what’s the largest number of diagonals one can draw in the cells of a square grid so that no two diagonals touch? The red diagonals in the figure show touching diagonals. No two squares can have diagonals that touch at the corner, and no two diagonals can be in the same square. Read to the end of the article for the answer!

Math circles and applied math seminars  each run about once a month. Other events are related to  professional development events that include panels of students who have done internships or gone on to graduate school, as well as information sessions about research opportunities inside and outside of the department.  About once a month, there is a social event such as a tea time which includes teas, snacks, a chance to hang out and talk to others, and an opportunity to play fun games with a mathematical theme.

The motivation behind this series of events is to create a sense of belonging for everyone in the math community and to build stronger connections among faculty, students, and community members.  While math circles and applied math seminars began in the department years ago as separate entities, Lora Bailey, David Clark, Lauren Keough, and Norma Ortiz-Robinson spearheaded an effort to organize events every Friday at 1PM to create a cohesive series of events. Now students know they can always find something fun on Friday afternoons in the PCS.

Nick Simmons, a recent math graduate, said: "Getting involved in the community is so important, especially for students who are new to the math department... these Friday events allow us to explore / collaborate on interesting math problems and make important connections within the department.” 

Dori Schlutt, another recent graduate wrote that: “They helped me connect to my peers and professors outside of the classroom. They also helped me to think about math in ways that I hadn't before, whether that be through different career applications or general skills, like puzzle solving. The events definitely enriched my time at GVSU.”

Current student Ethan Woudwyk memorably reports:  “It's like a little bubble of happiness on Friday afternoons where I get to hang out with a lot of my friends and do cool maths.”

At all the events, pizza and snacks are provided to students free of charge.  The annual budget for Fridays @ 1, including food, speaker honoraria, and materials, is approximately $2500, some of which is offset by a generous one-year grant from AutoOwners Insurance Company.  We are also looking for more funds to support and expand this successful community-building series.  If you or your employer would be interested in contributing support, visit Grand Valley's giving page or reach out to Lauren Keough. A promotional flyer is available here.  If you would like to join us at any event we would love to have you. Upcoming events are posted here. Everyone is welcome to come at any time and leave at any time!

Spoiler to Diagonals Rule: For squares grids, the maximum number of diagonals follows the pattern:

1x1:  1 diagonal

2x2:  3 diagonals

3x3:  6 diagonals

4x4:  10 diagonals

5x5:  16 diagonals

Participants are often fooled since there is a pattern in the sequence 1,3,6,10 that is broken by the max diagonals in the 5x5 grid. For more spoilers, see this published research paper by Boyland et. al.