The Boise Math Students’ Circle is for Treasure Valley young people with some experience with algebra and multiplication tables who want to experience creative mathematics. The Boise Math Teachers’ Circle is a community for Treasure Valley K–12 math educators.
The Boise Math Circle meets weekly or biweekly on Saturdays. Each meeting delivers an elementary topic with deep roots in mathematical theory. Many of these topics are not usually covered in school. The goal is for each participant to feel a spark and discover something new for themselves.
The typical meeting format begins with background and motivating questions, and then transitions into group work and guided discussions. Participants work on open-ended problems together in small groups, and then discuss their findings with the other groups.
Our activities differ from other extracurricular math programs in that it does not provide tutoring or support for school curriculum. The meetings are intended to be stress-free and encouraging. There are no grades, no competition, and no homework. Instead we encourage lots of collaboration and a loose classroom structure.
We welcome Treasure Valley youth in grades 6–12 of all achievement backgrounds who have an independent interest in mathematics. We strongly encourage students from under-represented groups to join.
We try to choose topics that are both accessible to middle and high school students, and interesting to research mathematicians. They may be chosen from any subfield of mathematics including: combinatorics, number theory, game theory, geometry, advanced algebra, set theory, and more. For specific examples of topics, you can always browse our past sessions.
The Circle is hosted by the mathematics department at Boise State University, and run by two of its faculty. The Circle will also feature visitors and guest discussion leaders on a regular basis. For more information about us, visit the faculty bios page!
A math circle is a group of interested individuals who meet to study mathematics for its own sake.
Math circles differ widely and may take up any number of activities such as elementary problem solving or advanced reading. A math circle differs from a tutoring or enrichment program in that it is not supporting school curriculum.
Our particular circle connects secondary school students with university faculty mentors, and uses guided discovery to generate discussions. Read more on our page about the BMC.
The BMC is the first Idaho program to join the 150+ math circles registered with the National Association of Math Circles.
The Boise Math Students’ Circle is for Treasure Valley young people with some experience with algebra who want to experience creative mathematics.
The Boise Math Teachers’ Circle is a community for Treasure Valley K–12 math educators.
Check out the current BMTC program
Some past BMTC sessions
You can also see our past programs:
The Department of Mathematics at Boise State University is proud to announce we will continue a Math Teachers’ Circle for Treasure Valley K–12 mathematics educators
Boise Math Teachers’ Circle promotional flyer
What’s a Math Teacher Circle?
2018–2019 Meetings
Our meetings will take place during the Saturday mornings listed below, from 9:00 AM to noon. Meetings take place on Boise State University campus, Mathematics Building, room 107. Parking is available (contact a circle organizer for the parking code).
Fall 2018:
Spring 2019:
After the meetings, information about the activities will be posted in the BMTC archive.
Circle Organizers
Boise State University Mathematics Department
Margaret Kinzel, Mathematics Education
Zach Teitler, Mathematics
Contact
Please check here periodically for updates, or contact mkinzel@boisestate.edu for more information.
Our first activity was about the problem of writing numbers as sums of three cubes. This Numberphile video with Tim Browning explained the problem. We tried solving for a few numbers like 39.
bmtc-sessions item dated Mar 9, 2019
At this session we welcomed some guests: high school students and non-math teachers. It was really exciting to share our math circle more widely!
bmtc-sessions item dated Feb 9, 2019
We explored mathematical concepts in statistics and calculus in a context of finance. Jennifer Eldred, who is a teacher at Kuna High School, shared some activities that she prepared as part of her master’s thesis at Boise State. The activities are available on her web site:
bmtc-sessions item dated Jan 26, 2019
We looked at fractals, and even made our own! This session was led by Teri Willard and Mandy McDaniel. We cut and folded pieces of paper to illustrate the first four “phases” in the iteration for a fractal. We used our models to investigate a number of patterns, such as counting the number of rectangular faces and determining their measurements at each step, to finding the total area or volume of the fractal. That involved geometric series. We discussed how this activity could go into a classroom and the many things that a student might get from it. This was a “low floor, high ceiling” activity—anyone can have fun making the paper models, and the mathematical investigation can go as far as you want it to go.
bmtc-sessions item dated Nov 10, 2018
We looked at irrational and rational numbers. We figured out which real numbers have terminating, repeating, or eventually repeating decimal expansions. And we found some patterns in the periods of repeating decimal expansions: for a prime number $p$, the decimal expansion of $1/p$ always has a period which is a factor of $p-1$. We saw how to prove that some numbers are irrational, including $\sqrt{2}$ and $\log_2(3)$ (the logarithm of $3$ in base $2$).
bmtc-sessions item dated Oct 13, 2018
Continuing with our introduction to combinatorics, this time we explored the structure side of things and introduced graph theory.
bmc-sessions item dated Sep 29, 2018
Sep 29, 2018 Introduction to trees
Sep 15, 2018 Introduction to graph theory
Sep 8, 2018 Introduction to combinatorics
Apr 28, 2018 Regular tessellations
Oct 28, 2017 Graphs and cycles
Oct 14, 2017 Functions and Pairing
Oct 7, 2017 Binomial coefficients and Catalan numbers
Sep 23, 2017 Modular counting and the table setting problem
Sep 16, 2017 Recursion and the four numbers game
Sep 2, 2017 The greatest common divisor and probability
Apr 22, 2017 Sending coded messages
Apr 1, 2017 Recognizing patterns
Mar 11, 2017 Falling chickens
Feb 25, 2017 A tree of fractions
Feb 11, 2017 Patterns in data
Jan 28, 2017 The logic of calculators
Jan 14, 2017 Parametric equations
Dec 10, 2016 The secret lives of permutations, part two
Dec 3, 2016 The secret lives of permutations
Nov 12, 2016 Bart vs Lisa vs Fractions
Oct 29, 2016 Mental math, version two
Oct 15, 2016 Adding together infinitely many numbers
Sep 24, 2016 Ovals upon ovals!
Sep 10, 2016 Mars moon mission
May 21, 2016 The game SET
Apr 30, 2016 Cave person games
Apr 16, 2016 Taking in the whole room
Apr 2, 2016 Multiplying points in the plane
Mar 12, 2016 Graph isomorphism
Mar 5, 2016 Toroidal doodles
Feb 20, 2016 Sudoku and latin squares
Feb 6, 2016 STEM exploration day
Jan 16, 2016 Toroidal polyhedra
Dec 5, 2015 Tournament Winners
Nov 21, 2015 Counting simplified fractions
Nov 14, 2015 Quadrilaterals
Oct 31, 2015 Spook-tacular mental math
Oct 17, 2015 Multiplication with a slide rule
Oct 10, 2015 Solids from regular sides
Oct 3, 2015 Fractals and dimension
Sep 19, 2015 The ultimate toothpick pattern
May 19, 2015 Origami and geometry
May 12, 2015 Games with modular arithmetic
Apr 18, 2015 Hyperbolic surfaces
Apr 4, 2015 Moving points
Mar 14, 2015 Three point one four one five something
Mar 9, 2015 Infinite counting numbers
Feb 21, 2015 Patterns in the Fibonacci numbers
Feb 7, 2015 STEM exploration day
Jan 24, 2015 Ways to write numbers
Jan 17, 2015 Shapes and motions
Dec 6, 2014 Number graphs
Nov 8, 2014 Numbers on clocks
Nov 1, 2014 Beguiling tilings
Oct 25, 2014 Coloring maps
Oct 18, 2014 Polygons and area
Oct 11, 2014 Spheres and geometry
Sep 27, 2014 Downtown walking distances
Sep 20, 2014 Sona sand drawings
Boise Math Circles
Joe Champion, Samuel Coskey, Margaret Kinzel, Zach Teitler
scoskey@boisestate.edu