Charlotte Mathematics Club
Newsletter, Fall 2005

It's time, once again, to rustle up some mental muscle, sharpen our pencils and our wits, and pound some math problems into submission with the help of old and new Math Club friends.

Read on to find out how to join in on the fun....

Outline:

Background

Who

When

Time & Place

Who's in charge?

Acknowledgements

News

Mandelbrot

Related Groups & Events

Math Lectures

Ponder this

Contacts

Background:

The Charlotte Mathematics Club was begun in 1987 by Dr. Harold Reiter for the purpose of providing enrichment and challenges for students who have a strong interest and ability in mathematics. The club meets approximately once a month from September to May. At club meetings, students work individually and in small groups to solve problems from various areas of mathematics. Occasionally there is a presentation of a special topic, as well.

The club participates in the Tournament of Towns ("T of T"), a Russian competition, in November and March. We will also participate in this year's four-part Mandelbrot Competition (the first round will be in October; sign up at our September meeting). Road trips include the Duke Math Meet in the fall, and the College of Charleston Math Meet in February. The December meeting is a pizza & welcome-back-alumni event, and we gather in May for an end-of-year picnic.

For more information about the CMC, see our Beginner's Guide to the Charlotte Math Club.

Who:

We invite young people who are interested in joining together with other highly motivated students from Charlotte-Mecklenburg and surrounding areas. Our club members are typically in eighth grade or higher and are taking Algebra, Geometry, or higher level mathematics courses. Student backgrounds include public, private, parochial and home-school environments.

When:

Meeting dates for 2005-2006 are:

September 10	February 11
October 15	February 24--25 (Charleston)
November 19 (T. of Towns)	March 11
December 17 (10 am - 1 pm)	April 8
January 7	May 20 (picnic; time/place TBA).

Time & Place:

Meetings start at 9:30 and end promptly at 11:15 am or at 12:30 pm, depending upon student level. (Generally, students in Geometry or a higher level mathematics course stay until 12:30.) Parents, please arrange to pick up your student no later than 12:40. Unless otherwise noted, our meetings are at Providence Day School (PDS), located at the corner of Rama Rd. and Sardis Rd.

Who's in charge:

The club is administered by the CMC Coordinating Committee (see "Contacts" below). Stephen Davis, Harold Reiter, and Arvo Kaseorg lead activities at our meetings, with able assistance from Susan Schaeffer. Also, Vicky Kaseorg coordinates our participation in the Mandelbrot competition.

Acknowledgements:

Thank you to parents who have helped at our meetings by contributing refreshments or providing other support. We continue to need refreshment donations; if you can help, sign up at a meeting or contact Susan Schaeffer.

There are no dues, although each student is asked to bring $1 to the December meeting to be used for a thank you gift for PDS. The CMC is indebted to those that have donated time, space and funds. PDS has been a gracious host for many years, and we are the beneficiaries of the generous contributions from Dale Halton, Richard Rusczyk, coauthor of The Art of Problem Solving, and other, anonymous, benefactors. Thanks also to supportive parents and other friends of the club.

News:

Congratulations to club members who have recently matriculated on... Mark Huggins (Georgia Tech), Aneesh Kulkarni (Davidson College), Ana Mostafavi (UNC-Chapel Hill), Dan Nguyen (Campbell University), Mark Whitfield (Duke University). Moving on to the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics are: John Grechka, Tyler Harkey, Sagar Indurkhya, Michael Pham, James Phillips, Adam Stegall.

Kevin Lang participated on the 4-member NC team that placed 10th at the 2005 MATHCOUNTS National Competition in May in Detroit. Drew Boyka, Yutong Chen, Thomas Valeri, and Mark Whitfield traveled with the North Carolina ARML teams to compete at Penn State in June. The NC teams finished 7th (of 27 teams) in Division A and 24th (of 68) in Division B.

Please share news of other club members and alumni! See the CMC web site for updates and more alumni news.

Mandelbrot:

We hope to again sponsor one national and one regional team for the Mandelbrot competition. If you are interested in participating, please contact Mrs. Kaseorg as soon as possible.

Related Groups & Events:

Math Jams are online improvisational problem solving sessions guided by Art of Problem Solving instructors. Each Math Jam consists of a series of problems to be solved by the collaboration of the participants. Of particular interest for CMC members is the August 24 Math Jam, billed as a warmup for the Mandelbrot Competition. Participation in Math Jams is free; go to the Art of Problems Solving Community link for more information.

Summer Ventures and the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) are opportunities that many of our club members have found rewarding. Summer Ventures is a four-week residential summer program in math and science for rising 11th and 12th graders, hosted by a number of North Carolina univeristies. NCSSM is a public residential high school (grades 11 and 12) in Durham with a challenging curriculum centered on science and mathematics. Both Summer Ventures and NCSSM are free to NC residents via a competitive admissions process. The deadline for applications to either program is in January, so start looking into these great opportunities now!

The Mecklenburg Math Club (MMC) is a group for students of grades 4 through 6. Local teachers and mathematicians lead the students in problem-solving sessions and other interesting math-related activities. This year, the MMC will again participate in the Mathematical Olympiads for Elementary Schools (MOES). The MMC meets once a month on a Saturday morning from 9:30 to noon at the Metrolina Regional Scholars' Academy (MRSA), 7000 Endhaven Lane, Charlotte, NC. See the MMC website for the meeting dates.

The American Mathematics Contest->8 (AMC->8) will be administered in schools on Tuesday, November 15. Remind your math teacher about the AMC->8; the deadline for registration is mid-October. (AMC->10 and AMC->12 day will be either Tuesday, January 31, 2006, or Wednesday, February 15, 2006.)

The MATHCOUNTS Piedmont Chapter competition at UNCC's Cone Center will be in February; the State competition will be in March at NCSSM.

The USA Mathematical Talent Search (USAMTS) is a free mathematics competition open to all United States high school students. Many CMC members have enjoyed this competition in the past; the problems are varied and interesting, and the contest organizers are responsive. Students may enter the competition at any time of the academic year; registration and instructions for how to participate are at the USAMTS website.

Interested in computers and learning JAVA? For information, send an email to Ram at rkavs@hotmail.com.

Some of our members also compete in the (internet-based) USA Computing Olympiad (USACO). There are fall, winter, and spring programming contests; more information (including dates!) is available at the USACO website.

Math Lectures:

Each year Davidson College and Furman University sponsor lectures by distinguished visiting mathematicians. These public lectures are an opportunity to see and hear from a dynamic mathematician of national renown. The Davidson College Bernard Lecturer this year is Prof. Ronald Graham (picture). Prof. Graham has been president of the AMS & MAA professional math societies and of the IJA, and he is Chief Scientist-Emeritus at AT&T Laboratories. Look for Prof. Graham "juggling on the green" during the wrap-up of the Hurricane Hugo Juggling Festival on Sunday afternoon, September 4, then come hear his talk, Searching for the Shortest Network, that evening.

Ponder this...

Consider the sequence {a₀, a₁, a₂, a₃, ...} = {2005, 2005+1, 2005+4, 2005+9, ...} where a_n = 2005 + n². Define d_n to be the greatest common divisor of a_n+1 and a_n, so d₀ = gcd(2005, 2006) = 1, d₁ = gcd(2006, 2009) = 1, d₂ = gcd(2009, 2014) = 1, etc. Find the maximum value of d_n, or show that the sequence {d_n} is unbounded.
(Note: "gcd" is also known as "gcf" for "greatest common factor.")

Contacts:

Stephen Davis:	704-894-2343 (w) 704-892-1394 (h) 704-894-2005 (fax)	stdavis@davidson.edu
Harold Reiter:	704-687-4561 (w) 704-364-5699 (h) 704-687-6415 (fax)	hbreiter@email.uncc.edu
Susan Schaeffer:	704-552-2869 (h)	oaktreemath@earthlink.net
Arvo & Vicky Kaseorg:	704-544-9597 (h)	arvo@carolina.rr.com vicky@carolina.rr.com
CMC homepage:	http://www.davidson.edu/math/cmc