S.M.A.R.T. Circle Projects

Description

This book describes projects in a Mathematical “Circle,” i.e., an organization that discovers and nurtures young mathematical talents through meaningful extra-curricular activities. This is the second volume in a trilogy describing in particular the S.M.A.R.T. Circle project, which was founded in Edmonton, Canada in 1981. The acronym S.M.A.R.T. stands for Saturday Mathematical Activities, Recreations & Tutorials. This book, Volume II, is based on the papers published in scientific and education journals by the Circle members while they were still in junior high school (some still in elementary school). In essence, it explains the purpose of the Circle. Volume I describes how to run a Circle, and Volume III explains what actually takes place in the Circle. All three volumes provide a wealth of resources (mathematical problems, quizzes and games, together with their solutions). The books will be of interest to self-motivated students who want to conduct independent research, teachers who work with these students, and teachers who are currently running or planning to run Mathematical Circles of their own. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiv Error-Correcting Codes (Andrew Chiang-Fung Liu)....Pages 1-16 Platonic and Archimedian Solids (Andrew Chiang-Fung Liu)....Pages 17-38 Polyform Compatibility (Andrew Chiang-Fung Liu)....Pages 39-53 Mathematical Chess Problems (Andrew Chiang-Fung Liu)....Pages 55-83 Mathematical Induction (Andrew Chiang-Fung Liu)....Pages 85-101 Number Triangles (Andrew Chiang-Fung Liu)....Pages 103-121 Summation Problems (Andrew Chiang-Fung Liu)....Pages 123-134 Finite Projective Geometries (Andrew Chiang-Fung Liu)....Pages 135-152 Sharing Loots (Andrew Chiang-Fung Liu)....Pages 153-170 Puzzling Adventures (Andrew Chiang-Fung Liu)....Pages 171-182 Back Matter ....Pages 177-195