Pi Mu Epsilon and Elon Stats Club co-host third Annual Fall Pizza Party

Elon’s chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon, the national mathematics honor society, and Elon’s Statistics Club co-hosted a fun evening of pizza, prizes and math games on Thursday, Sept. 10.

The event, which saw a total of 58 students and faculty participating, was planned, promoted and executed by enthusiastic student officers from both organizations, with the help of Stats Club faculty advisor Laura Taylor and PME faculty advisor Chad Awtrey. 

As students gathered on the second floor of the Duke building, they were greeted by the student officers and several additional faculty from the department of mathematics and statistics, including Jim Beuerle, Jeff Clark and Alan Russell.

In addition to free pizza, attendees also received awards and prizes. Sarah Woidill ’16 won the door prize. Michelle Rave ’17 and Alex Zaterka ’17 were co-winners of the scavenger hunt. And RJ Stein ’19 and Lauren McMahon ’19 were co-winners of the trivia contest.

Another highlight of the evening was a fascinating lecture given by professor of mathematics Jeff Clark.  Clark discussed the concept of infinity and the role it plays in calculus. Interested parties can learn more details by consulting the Wikipedia entry on “Hyperreal numbers” or by enrolling in any of Elon’s calculus/analysis courses (MTH 151, 251, 252, 455).

Chad Awtrey concluded the evening by promoting PME’s next event: a special guest lecture by female mathematicians Debra Mimbs and Laura Singletary (Lee Univeristy). The guest lecture will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 30, from 3:30-4:30 p.m., in Lakeside 212. This event is open to all in the Elon community. The title and abstract are as follows:

Title:
“Oh, the Places You will Go: Becoming Well-Euled Mathematicians”

Abstract:
“In this interactive talk, we will examine the famous Konigsberg Bridge Problem: Is it possible to stroll through the town of Konigsberg by crossing each of the town’s seven bridges once and only once? This famous problem had the appearance of being little more than a novel game for the residents of this German town; however, Leonard Euler’s mathematical formulation of the problem provided the necessary foundation for the beginnings of graph theory. As we journey through Konigsberg, we will take time to explore some of the other significant mathematical contributions provided by the unsurpassed genius of Euler, the most prolific and versatile mathematician in the history of mathematics.”