Notre Dame Math Club

Welcome to the homepage of the Notre Dame Math Club. This year we hope to have plenty of mathematical and social events for math majors, faculty, friends, and other math enthusiasts. The links at the top of the page will direct you to some of the events we are planning for the 2007-2008 school year.

Upcoming Events!

Abstract: We will discuss how one can build complicated surfaces decorated with drawings from very simple ingredients - stars and polygons - endowed with a bit of extra structure. As an example, we will try to "compute our way out" of the task of drawing an icosahedron on a four-holed pretzel. as a part of our faculty dinner lecture series.

After the talk we will have dinner with Prof Gekhtman. (Free Chipotle!) All math majors and friends are invited to join us!

Math T-shirt Sale!

Shirts will be sold for $10 each in 117 Hayes-Healy, from 7-8 on Tuesday, April 22 or from 3-5 in the Math Library (Basement of Hayes-Healy) on Wednesday, April 23. Pictures of the design can be found here. Front view Back view.

Special Math Club Talk!

Blown Away: What Knot to Do When Sailing
Speaker: Sir Randolph Bacon III

(Cousin-in-law to Professor Colin Adams from Williams College)
March 26th, 2008
184 Nieuwland Hall
5:30 PM

Join the math club on a mathematical adventure as we hear from Professor Adams.... err Sir Randolph Bacon III. A poster of the talk can be found here. (Poster design from Denison University) We hope you and your friends can come. This promises to be a great evening! We'll go out to dinner with Sir Randolph following the talk. All are welcome!

Abstract: Being a tale of adventure on the high seas involving great risk to the tale teller, and how an understanding of the mathematical theory of knots saved his bacon. No nautical or mathematical background assumed.

Profs & Pizza Series

Tuesday February 19, 2008
6:00 - 7:00 pm
Hurley Hall 258

Prof. Nicolaescu will give a talk entitled "Smooth Doodles" as a part of our faculty dinner lecture series. Come for a fun talk and then eat dinner with the speaker. The poster and abstract can be found here: poster.

A Hurley Holiday Hullabaloo!

Tuesday December 11
5:00 - 7:00 pm
Math Lounge

The Math Club is throwing a Christmas party to end the semester and you're invited! Come and join us. More details can be found on the flyer.

Math Sweatshirt Sale!

Green Hoodies
Gold Lettering
Large design on front center
$20 Preorders
Order yours today in the Math Department 255 Hurley Hall.

Prof. Frank Morgan is Coming to Notre Dame!

Sunday October 7th-Monday October 8th

Short bio: Frank Morgan studies optimal shapes and minimal surfaces. He has published over 100 articles and six books, including "Calculus Lite" and "The Math Chat Book," based on his live, call-in TV show and column. Founder of the NSF "SMALL" Undergraduate Research Project, inaugural winner of the Haimo national teaching award of the Mathematical Association of America, he is Atwell Professor of Mathematics at Williams College. Photo credit: Jeff Bauer.

Soap Bubbles in the Torus

October 7th
127 Hayes Healy
6:30 PM

Come listen to Frank Morgan give a talk for the Math Club, and then join us for dinner afterwards.

Abstract: In Euclidean space, soap bubbles are round and double bubbles have a characteristic shape. What would big bubbles look like in a torus-either a 2-dimensional torus, like the surface of a doughnut, or a 3-dimensional torus, harder to picture? We'll have some fun thinking about the torus and what bubbles in the surface of a torus might look like. No prerequisites; all welcome. photo credit: John Sullivan

Manifolds with Density

October 8th
231 Hayes Healy
4:00 PM

Abstract. In his 2006 proof of the Poincare Conjecture, Perelman needed to give his surfaces or manifolds densities (as in physics or calculus). Manifolds with density come up all the time, but their geometry remains largely unexplored. The talk will also include some recent advances by undergraduates. No specific prerequisites; undergraduates welcome.

Shirt Design Contest

Submission Deadline:
September 19
5:00 pm

Once again, the Notre Dame Math Club is sponsoring a competition to decide the design for this year's Math Club shirts and sweatshirts. For more information check out the flyer and the entry form, but hurry, the deadline is coming up!

Sudoku Challenge

September 23
2:00 - 3:00 pm
Hayes Healy 125

This year that Math Club is sponsoring the first ever sudoku challenge! Whether you consider yourself an ace, need to sharpen your skills, or have always wanted to start doing sudoku puzzles, this is your opportunity. Get more details here.

Math Major Night

Tuesday September 25
7:00 pm
125 Hayes Healy

Ever wondered what math research is? Confused about reading groups, and graduate school? Would you like to learn the ins and outs of being a math major? If so, then come to this math club meeting and we'll answer any question you might have about mathematics.