SEMINAR PROFILE

M01 -
Combinatorics: The Art of Counting Without Counting

Combinatorics is not only about counting things, but also about discovering relationships between seemingly different problems. It has the advantage that the problems themselves are concrete and easily understandable, although the solutions can be challenging. In this seminar we will develop the mathematics underlying the following questions. How many slices of pizza can you make using n straight cuts? How many ways are there for you to walk to work if you live on the corner of 1st Avenue and 1st Street and work on the corner of 7th Avenue and 7th street? We will relate combinatorial problems to the Fibonacci numbers and to Pascal�s Triangle. This seminar is most appropriate for middle school and high school math teachers, but anyone who enjoys numbers and problem solving is welcome.

Scholar:

Ann Trenk

Location:

Wellesley

Dates:

1/13/2010, 1/20/2010

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M01 -	Combinatorics: The Art of Counting Without Counting

	Combinatorics is not only about counting things, but also about discovering relationships between seemingly different problems. It has the advantage that the problems themselves are concrete and easily understandable, although the solutions can be challenging. In this seminar we will develop the mathematics underlying the following questions. How many slices of pizza can you make using n straight cuts? How many ways are there for you to walk to work if you live on the corner of 1st Avenue and 1st Street and work on the corner of 7th Avenue and 7th street? We will relate combinatorial problems to the Fibonacci numbers and to Pascal�s Triangle. This seminar is most appropriate for middle school and high school math teachers, but anyone who enjoys numbers and problem solving is welcome.

		Scholar:	Ann Trenk
		Location:	Wellesley
		Dates:	1/13/2010, 1/20/2010