Riverbend Math Circles at Notre Dame

Math Circles are for students with long attention spans who enjoy engaging in mathematical conversation. Students will learn to collaborate with others while developing and defending their mathematical ideas. Our pedagogy is based on the approach used in the Global Math Circle.

Math Circles are programs for students who love math and want a challenge. Students should have long attention spans and should be eager to have a discussion about mathematical ideas with like-minded peers.

Fall 2022

Faculty and students from Notre Dame partner with Riverbend Community Math Center to offer Math Circles for four different age ranges. All Math Circles will meet on Wednesdays from 5 to 6 p.m. in Pasquerilla Hall at Notre Dame from September 14th through December 7th. We will not meet October 19th due to Notre Dame fall break or November 23rd due to Thanksgiving break.

Online Registration Form

To register for a Math Circle, please complete the Online Registration Form.

Birman Math Circle

Typical Ages: 4–5 years old

Named for Joan Birman (1927–)

Galois Math Circle

Typical Ages: 1st – 2nd grade students

Named for Evariste Galois (1811–1832)

Germain Math Circle

Typical Ages: 3rd – 5th grade students

Named for Sophie Germain (1776–1831)

Wiles Math Circle

Typical Ages: 6th – 12th grade students

Named for Andrew Wiles (1953–)

Research Group

The research group always meets online, and is designed for older students who want to take a deep dive into a single topic, learn the LaTeX language in which most math papers and books are published, and improve their mathematical writing skills. Exceptional amounts of focus, determination, and patience are required, and we assume that participants are familiar with the content of Algebra 1. If you are interesting in joining, contact Amanda Serenevy directly at amanda@riverbendmath.org

Typical Ages: middle and high school students

Investigations From Past Math Circles

Smarties Sandwiches

What is the probability of getting a "sandwichable" roll of Smarties candies?

Exploding and Collapsing Boxes

We have heard of base ten, base two, and base sixteen, but is it possible to make sense of base three halves?

Three-sided Cylindrical Dice

How can we construct a fair three-sided cylindrical die?

For example, a "short" cylinder will almost always land on one of the ends and rarely on the side. A tall cylinder will almost always land on its side and rarely on an end. How should we construct the die so that if we label the ends with "1" and "2" and the side with "3" each number will have an equal chance of coming up?

Emptying the Atlantic Ocean with a Thimble

How many thimbles of water would it take to empty the Atlantic Ocean?

Extension of James Tanton's Intersection Math Problem

We extended James Tanton's Intersection Math Problem counting the intersections of a bipartite graph to a tripartite graph.

This work placed into the public domain by the Riverbend Community Math Center.