YSU MegaMath Workshops

What Are They?

One of the main features of YSU MegaMath Day is the workshops. All students will attend 2 workshops chosen from a wide variety of topics. Workshops encourage learning and engaging in many fields in mathematics through group activities and demonstrations. Students will have the opportunity to see that mathematics is much more than computation! The workshops will be conducted by university faculty and students and are noncompetitive.

Workshop Titles 2024

  1. When Will We Ever Use That?! by Dr. Prieto and Ms. Bucholtz.
  2. How Lucky is a Bowl of Lucky Charms? by Dr. Jay Kerns.
  3. The Mathematics Behind Google's PageRank by Dr. Paddy Taylor.
  4. It’s Golden! by Ms. Alayne Leone.
  5. Fun with Fractals by Dr. Jozsi Jalics.
  6. Instant Insanity by Dr. Tom Smotzer.
  7. The Slide Rule: Outdated and Nerdy! by Dr. Thomas Madsen.
  8. All I do is Win by YSU Students.
  9. Gerrymandering by YSU Students.

When Will We Ever Use That?! by Dr. Prieto and Ms. Bucholtz

Have you ever wondered when will you need the things you learn in you math classes? In this workshop we will explore different applications of the things you learn in class and we will tied them up with different careers that use mathematics. This will be a hands on workshop with fun problems that use math that you already know to solve questions you might have already wonder about.

How Lucky is a Bowl of Lucky Charms? by Dr. Jay Kerns

A bowl of this popular breakfast cereal, with its multi-colored marshmallows and tasty toasted oats, truly lives up to its tagline: "Magically Delicious!" However, it seems like, as the box gets emptier, the later bowls somehow don't seem quite as magical as the earlier ones. Using mathematics and statistics, we'd like to investigate this phenomenon. Just how lucky is a bowl of Lucky Charms? Come to this workshop to find out!

The Mathematics Behind Google's PageRank, by Dr. Paddy Taylor

In 1998 Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google, changed the landscape of internet search by introducing their PageRank algorithm for improving how web-searches are performed. The PageRank algorithm applies numerical linear algebraic techniques and exploits the link structure of the internet to rank web pages based on order of importance and relevance. We will explore the mathematics behind their algorithm and provide a simple example illustrating the process. We will also hold a competition during the workshop and rank the participants using PageRank. Students attending this workshop will learn how to multiply matrices; no prior experience is necessary. Graphing calculators or cell phones are encouraged to help students with calculations.

It’s Golden! by Ms. Alayne Leone

The golden ratio. What is it? Where do we see it? Where does it come from? In this workshop, we will explore the golden ratio and the Fibonacci sequence that is seen in nature, art, architecture, and human hand bones!

Fun with Fractals, by Dr. Jozsi Jalics

Explore the fun and beautiful geometry of fractals by constructing some of your own fractals.

Instant Insanity, by Dr. Tom Smotzer

Instant Insanity is the name given by Parker Brothers to their 1967 version of a puzzle that has existed since antiquity. We will explore the mathematical world of graph theory and use tools of graph theory to find a solution to the puzzle.

The Slide Rule: Outdated and Nerdy! by Dr. Thomas Madsen

It had a long life from the 17th century up until the mid-20th century. It was made completely obsolete by electricity and cheap electronics. It was used by astronauts and was as common as the pocket calculator is today. In this workshop we will introduce the basics of the slide rule. We will learn what makes the slide rule a great device for completing quick computations. This workshop is restricted to 5 students. This will be nerdy and fun!

All I do is Win, by YSU Students

In this workshop, we will explore game theory and combinatorics through a variety of interactive games. In our apple picking game, two players take turns eating one or two apples and strategize to eat the last apple. During sprigs, you and your opponent will try to be the person to draw the last “sprig” connecting dots. Can you find a strategy where you can always win?

Gerrymandering, by YSU Students

Have you ever wondered why district maps have such odd boundaries? Gerrymandering refers to manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency to favor one party or class. But how do political leaders even know where to draw these lines? In this workshop, we will explore how we can manipulate boundaries on a grid so that we get a desired outcome.

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