I used to be hesitant in building a math circle session around tricks, but I’ve come to appreciate their place. On MC2 Parent Surveys, we often get responses like this: “I can see my child’s curiosity about math is sparked–she tells me about what she did afterwards and has to tried to have me play along with games she learned.” There’s a place for puzzles, tricks, and games that students can share with a parent or sibling.
For this ‘At Home Math Circle’, I encourage the kid to read the directions and then try it out with a parent! Note: You’ll need a standard deck of cards for each trick, and a standard die for the 2nd.
1. Piles to King
Note: It’s essential that your deck of cards be a complete deck with 52 cards–no cards missing, no jokers!
Step 1: Deal a card face up. Say it’s a 6. Continue to deal the cards face up on top of that 6, and in your head count up to king. Count in your head–so you’d deal the 6, then count 7,8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king to make a pile (to be clear, the value of the cards will likely not be be 7, 8, 9, etc.; it’s just a way to keep track of how many cards should be in your pile). Note that if the pile starts with 6, it will have 8 cards. If you start with a 3, you’ll get a stack with 11 cards; a stack that starts with a king will only have that one card!
When your count gets to king, that pile is done. Keep making other piles in the same manner. Make 4 or 5 piles.
Step 2: Turn all of the piles upside down. Ask the subject/parent/victim of your trick to hand you all but three piles. Take the cards that you are handed and put them with the unused remainder of the deck.
Step 3: Have the subject turn over the top card of two of the remaining piles. Take the deck and count out the number of cards corresponding to the cards that are revealed. If you see a 3 and a queen, count out 3 cards, then count out 12 cards (a queen is a 12, a king is 13, and a jack is 11; aces are 1’s). Important : After that, deal out 10 more cards.
Step 4: Count the remaining cards in your hand. Suppose there are six; announce that the remaining card on top of the third pile is a six (if there are 11, you’d say jack). Then turn the top card over on the final pile, to the amazement of all (assuming you’ve done your arithmetic right!)
Tips:
- Do all of the counting in your head. This will make the trick more mysterious.
- You can make as many piles as you want, just don’t run out of cards. For example, if you are close to running out, and you deal out an ace, that pile would have 13 cards–if you run out, the trick won’t work if you make that pile!
2. The 3 and a Half of Clubs
Note: You can buy a three and a half of clubs card online, but, at the moment that may be hard to do. Alternatively (ask your parents if this is ok), draw on the three of clubs and make it a three and a half.
Step 1: Put the three and a half of clubs 9th from the top of the deck. Shuffle the deck, but don’t disturb the 9 cards at the top!
Step 2: Invite the subject to deal out 20 cards, face down, one on top of the other.
Step 3: Have the subject then remove from 1 to 9 cards–their choice–from the top of this new stack. (They shouldn’t tell you the number they chose).
Step 4: Have the subject figure out how many cards remain in the pile. This is a two digit number. Have them add those digits together, and then remove that many more cards. (If there were 14 cards left in the pile, they would remove 1+4=5 cards).
Step 5: Have the subject roll the die but not show you the result. Tell them that the average of the top and bottom of the die will be the same number as the card at the top of the stack.
If they laugh at you because the average is 3 and a half, great, because you know what’s going to happen!
Extensions:
- Try to think about why each trick works.
- For Piles to King, how would you have to adjust the trick if there were four piles and the top card were revealed for three of them?
Every once in a while we're lucky enough to get a tenured professor to lead math circles. What's even more unusual is when that professor represents MC2 and travels around the city to run math festivals at Chicago elementary schools. Keigo Kawaji recently won the The Center for Learning Innovation Digital Teaching Innovation Award at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He's also MC2's Teacher of the Month! 1) How long have you worked for Math Circles? I have been a member of our Math Circles since 2019. 2) What made you start working for Math Circles? I was part of the math circles organization in my hometown through high school. By my high school senior year, I got to serve teaching in their programs, this then led to my first paid positions in teaching at summer math camps. So it has been quite natural to join our Math Circles of Chicago once I became an educator here. 3) Why do you teach? I have been inspired by mentors who have guided me to this nice recognition. Influenced by three such mentors during my high school years. So I teach to pay forward. (And thank you Steffi, Tom, and Richard). 4) What is your favorite thing about teaching? I see teaching as my own means of performing music, or creating an artistic piece (though I am good at neither). As a college professor, I was just recognized at my home university (Illinois Tech) for my teaching innovations in both digital and beyond digital platforms. Sharing these teaching innovations with similarly minded educators is truly rewarding for me. 5) What is something you wish more parents knew? There is no such thing as the 'only way'; there are many ways to solve a problem. Oftentimes, in hindsight, we realize that this was the only way we knew. This offers some food for thought. 6) What is something you want people to know about Math? When attempting to solve a challenging problem, start by finding one solution. Then, sometime later — or perhaps someday — try exploring a different, alternative solution. 7) How has Math Circles impacted your teaching career and your perspective as an educator? For the past 7 years, I have met many fellow educators, parents, and students through the Math Circles. In fact, I recently tried to count how many, and realized that I connected with almost one thousand people in the greater Chicago area community. I now wonder how many readers here and I might have already crossed paths (I'd be honored!). For each connection that I have made, I have grown as an educator. 8) Should Pluto be given back its title of planet? In fact, I do not know. I am curious as to what sets of rules should be used to define inclusion as planets. Maybe there are more than one defined set of rules for inclusion. And it is okay to say I don't know.
Summer Math Preview: High School For high school students interested in our two weeks of summer programs at Benito Juarez high school , here's a preview of the math content! What is Category Theory? Perhaps it's best to hear about the subject from your instructor, Dr. Eugenia Cheng [ watch until at least 8:25] :
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In February we interviewed Louisa Shannon, who leads an MC2 After School Program at Murray Elementary School and who has been a lead teacher at MC2 summer camps, both at Back of the Yards and in her own school. She's now in her 4th year at math circles! 1) What made you start working for Math Circles? I started working for Math Circles after participating in a Formative Assessment Lesson (FAL) Professional Development Cohort that Doug O'Roark co-organized during virtual learning. 2) Why do you teach? I teach because it is a vocation and a privilege. Being entrusted to provide equitable access, cultivate identities, and prepare community members is an honor of which I aspire to be worthy every day. 3) What is your favorite thing about teaching? Facilitating and witnessing a Eureka moment of clarity when someone synthesizes the pieces of information into a new understanding that they take with them as far and wide as they wish. 4) What is something you wish more parents knew? I wish more parents knew how resilient, capable, creative, and joyful children can be when we empower them to struggle with challenging tasks they find interesting for knowledge's sake. 5) What is something you want people to know about Math? Regardless of our previous academic performance, we are all math people. Math is fundamentally about exploring and solving problems that help us identify patterns and understand relationships. Doing math cultivates problem-solving. Problems are growing exponentially; we need as many problem-solvers as possible. 6) How has Math Circles impacted your teaching career and your perspective as an educator? Math Circles has challenged me to seek, promote, and expect joy for every learner. It has helped me recommit to a career as an educator. 7) Should Pluto be given back its title? Although nine is divine, eight is pretty great! I think Pluto should remain a dwarf planet.
In January, we interviewed Lisa Cash, MC2's most experienced teacher. Lisa led our first ever After School Program at Goudy Elementary (which continues to this day), and also leads sessions at our Lane Tech Hub, along with summer sessions at Payton HS. 1) What made you start working with Math Circles? I wanted to do interesting and engaging math with my students after school. However, I started teaching at the Pilsen Hub first. I brought it to my school later and have been running it there ever since. 2) What is something you wish more parents knew? I hope parents realize how much their enthusiasm shapes their child's experience. It is a joy to teach Math Circles because of this. 3) How has Math Circles impacted your teaching career and your perspective as an educator? I have spent the last 7 years learning and growing with Math Circles. Working with the team at Math Circles has broadened my ability to help students think deeply about math.
Greetings MC2 Folks! While it still feels very much like winter here in Chicago, many families are beginning to think about their plans for Summer math enrichment. There are math programs all over the country, some free, some not. A few admit everyone they can fit, others ask applicants to complete an application, write an essay, or submit a math problem set. The table below can help you make a choice. Some things to note: Camps in Chicago -- MC2, UIC, and UChicago -- tend to have later deadlines than national camps, and the UIC and UChicago websites are usually updated in March or April. If you are on MC2's mailing list you will get updates. If you need any advice, email us at info@mathcirclesofchicago.org or hit the 'Contact' button on this website!
Registration Information and Forms Update! The next time you login to your MC2 account to register your child for an MC2 session, you'll be asked to update some information about each child you enroll, and complete our standard forms. Updating information about your student--what's new/different: You'll be asked to give your child's date of birth. We're now collecting gender and race/ethnicity information here (which is optional) rather than having a separate registration form (this will reduce the number of signed forms we collect by one). If your child is in high school, we ask for your child's school (with our old system this information was often not updated). Form notes: We know that most families have completed our forms previously; we're asking you to do so again, but once you've done so that should be the last time (or at least the last time for several years)! The CPS data form is an exception--it will need to be completed once a year. Families are free to not share their child's CPS data (and, of course, some of our students do not attend CPS); if your child does not attend a CPS school or if you prefer to not share their data with MC2, simply answer 'no' to the two questions on the form. Of course, we would encourage you to answer yes if you can, as it's helpful for us to collect as much information as possible so we can analyze the overall impact of our programs. We never share individual student data with outside groups . Individual student data is also not shared with our teachers. We only use collective student data for evaluating our programs; we do NOT use individual student data for any purpose other than to calculate these averages.
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MC2 Changes Welcome to MC2, Fall 2024! As we launch our fall programming, we have several announcements to make! 1. High Schoolers Welcome! MC2 offers a rich set of programs for high school students, and we are eager to have students with us in middle school to return during their high school years. Cantor-A1/G: This program is for students in Algebra 1 and Geometry, typically enrolling students in 8th, 9th, and 10th graders. We've redesigned each Cantor semester around specific Big Mathematical Ideas that will be particularly appealing to those aspiring to those planning to go on and take advanced math courses in high school in college. This fall Cantor will focus on sequences and series (key concepts for prepping for Calculus) and probability (great prep for Statistics courses). Kovalevsky-A2/PC: For students further along in the high school math sequence, Kovalevsky will also include activities related to probability, and give students to some undergraduate level mathematics--Game Theory. As we hinted at last year, MC2 is working on establishing a program tentatively titled 'MC2 Scholars' that will incentivize high schoolers to stay engaged with us through 12th grade. MC2 Scholars will be strongly encouraged to participate in the Cantor and Kovalevsky programs; they'll also get support to apply for math summer camps, produce math research (to be presented at QED, Chicago's Youth Math Symposium), and to become assistant teachers in MC2 Classrooms. And, yes, we are looking to raise money to give scholarships to those students! Keep an eye on our newsletters as we look to launch this program at the end of the school year. 2. Hub Changes We have one location & week day change, a possible winter addition, some extra sections, and we're stepping back from online. We're taking a step away from online programming this fall. We expect to return either in winter 2025 or fall 2025; for now we're making sure we back up our plans, many of which include Google Jamboard, which is being discontinued as of October 1st. Our Chinatown location has switched to Bridgeport. We continue to partner with St. Therese Catholic School; this year we will be operating out of their St. Barbara's location. Also, these Bridgeport sessions will now convene on Wednesdays rather than Tuesdays; see all locations and times on our Locations webpage . At our Payton and UChicago sites we are hoping again hold a second section of our Brahmagupta-7/8, so that sessions will run from 1PM-2:10PM (like last year) as well as 2:20PM-3:30PM. We're also expecting to add a Cantor-A1/G session from 10:00AM-11:15AM at the Saturday Back of the Yards High School Hub. Finally, we are looking to open a west side hub this winter; stay tuned! 3. Festivals Galore! Last school year we surprised ourselves, holding 30 Julia Robinson Math Festivals. This year we are going for 40! If your school might be interested, have a teacher or school leader complete our festival interest form ! 4. Stepping away from partnering this year Over the past several years MC2 has partnered with homeless shelters, refugee programs, and community centers to hold math circles in a wide range of spaces across the city. Currently our organization is working on creating a strategic plan to determine how our organization will continue to grow. For now we are focused on doing fewer things better. We expect this to be a pause, and we'll reach out to these partners in the future when we have the capacity.
Our math summer camp list has been updated, with one new addition (Campersand). There are math camps all over the country, some free, some not. A few admit everyone they can fit, others ask you to complete an application, write an essay, or do a bit of a math 'try out'. The table below can help you make a choice. Some things to note: Middle School parents, Math Path is recommended and relatively close (Kansas City this year). If you are interested have your child apply right away. While they will take applications through April they have rolling admissions and the longer you wait the lower your chances are you'll be admitted. Camps in Chicago--MC2, UIC, and UChicago--tend to have later deadlines than national camps, and the UIC and UChicago websites are usually updated in March or April. If you are on MC2's mailing list you will get updates. If you need any advice, email us at info@mathcirclesofchicago.org or hit the 'Contact' button on this website! UPDATED MARCH 11, 2024
