Welcome to the TAMU Math Circle!

The Texas A&M Math Circle is an outreach activity that brings 5th - 12th grade students into direct contact with mathematical professionals in an informal setting to work on fun and interesting topics in mathematics. The goal is to help students become passionate about math.  Our instructors range from professors and graduate students at Texas A&M to experts from industry, all of whom are eager to share with students their passion for mathematics and its applications.

This year's meetings:

For the Spring 2025 semester, we will have Saturday meetings on 1/25, 2/1, 2/8, 2/15, 3/1, 3/22, 3/29, 4/12, 4/26, and 5/3.

• There are two types of sessions being offered:

            1:00 - 3:00 Discovery Activity

            3:00 - 4:00 Problem Solving

• Each is offered at three levels:

            Beginner (for those on Pre-Algebra and below)

            Intermediate (for those on Algebra 1 and Geometry)

            Advanced (for those on Algebra 2 and above)

• All 6 groups are meeting in person with the exception of the Advanced Problem Solving group, which will be meeting in a hybrid form, both in-person and on-line via Zoom. For information on attending the Advanced Problem Solving group via Zoom, please contact Dr. Kun Wang <kwang@tamu.edu>.

• The in-person events will take place on the first floor of the Blocker building. Drop-off and pick-up will be in Room 128.

Program for This Week:

April 26, 2025

Discovery Learning: Beginner Group (in Pre-Algebra and below)

Speaker: Dr. Irina Bobkova, Texas A&M University

Title: Magic card tricks

Abstract: We will do some magic card tricks and learn the mathematics behind them.

Discovery Learning: Intermediate Group (in Algebra I or above)

Speaker: Dr. Maurice Rojas, Texas A&M University

Title: Securely Sharing Secrets

Abstract: How can you share a secret with a friend, while enemies are listening, and still have your enemies not know the secret? We'll see how modular arithmetic leads to a way to do this and how this is used on the internet. We'll also learn how a large group of friends can keep a secret, unknown to all, even if several friends gang together to break the secret, until a proper majority agrees to reveal the secret. This is useful in finance and international diplomacy.

Discovery Learning: Advanced Group (in Algebra II or above)

Speaker: Dr. Hung Viet Chu, Texas A&M University

Title: Number Guessing Game

Abstract: Abstract: Ask a friend to think of a number without telling you. Can you figure out what it is just by asking a few simple questions? In this activity, we'll learn how to perform this clever trick and explore the math that makes it work.

Problem-Solving: Beginner Group 

Topics: Art of Problem Solving-PreAlgebra

Instructors: Dr. Kun Wang (Texas A&M), Dr. Xin Liu  (Texas A&M), Dr. Runjie Hu (Texas A&M), Rozlyn Graham (Texas A&M)

Problem-Solving: Intermediate Group

Topics: Art of Problem Solving-Intermediate Algebra

Instructors: Dr. Zhizhang Xie (Texas A&M),  Xiaoyu Su (Texas A&M), Jake Song (Texas A&M)

Problem-Solving: Advanced Group 

Topics: Pigeonhole Principle, Recursive sequences and functions, Recursion (counting problems), Trigonometry, Complex Numbers, State Diagrams, Conditional Probability, and more

Instructors: Dr. Samson Zhou (Texas A&M), Dr. Qiaochu Ma(Texas A&M), Abishek Hariharan (Texas A&M), and Andrew Yu (Harvard University)

Please visit our Registration page to register your student(s).