Girls Math Night
What is it?
Why be a mentor? Mentoring a GMN project . Mentoring is an opportunity to think about the material of your project in a new way.
When? Where? Meetings can be in-person or virtual, depending on the needs of the mentor and students. Each Girls’ Math Night session culminates in a presentation night hosted in Van Vleck.
Graduate Organizers: Bella Finkel
Faculty Organizers: Tullia Dymarz
Topics and Resources
Topics
Quaternions What are they, and why do we care about them? For that matter, why do engineers care about them?? As a starting point, check out this interactive lesson by 3b1b.
Trace and Determinant How can they be defined, and why are these ways the same? What properties do they have? How do we make sense of them geometrically?
Non-Euclidean Geometries
Parking Functions What are they, and what do they make you wonder?
Honk! Honk!: An Introduction to Parking Functions, Part 1 (on page 15)
Honk! Honk!: An Introduction to Parking Functions, Part 2 (on page 14)
Sunzi's Theorem (The Chinese Remainder Theorem)
Written Resources
Naive Set Theory by Paul Halmos
Mathematics and its History by John Stillwell (This is a versatile book. Some chapters are appropriate for students at all levels, most are suitable for students who have taken calculus, and a few at the end are ideal for students who have seen some group theory.)
Linear Algebra Done Right by Sheldon Axler (Most suitable for students who have taken linear algebra)
Most suitable for students with prior exposure to proof-based mathematics:
Primes of the Form x^2+ny^2 : Fermat, Class Field Theory, and Complex Multiplication by David A. Cox
Matrix Groups for Undergraduates by Kristopher Tapp (Suitable for students who have taken linear algebra and a proof-based mathematics course)
Other Inspiration
The 3blue1brown website has interactive lessons in video and text form.
Past Projects
Fermat’s Little Theorem: Proof Using “Necklaces”
Matrix Groups and Applications
Administrative Resources and Contacts
Erin Bailey, Associate Director of Community Engaged Research in the College of Letters and Science
Dr. Gloria Marí-Beffa, Associate Dean for Research