Math Beyond the Classroom

By Emily Hung ’23, April 1, 2022

High school students participate in Math Exploration Day.

An IC student Jake Brown '22 presents a math problem to high school student Xander MacKenzie. (Photo Credit: Emily Hung '23)

Jake Brown ’22, a mathematics and physics double major, first came to Ithaca College for Math Exploration Day during his first year at Newfield High School. He loved having the chance to learn math outside the walls of a classroom through the mini sessions and a math contest, so he returned to participate in Math Day for the next three years until he graduated high school.

“You get a glimpse of what a mathematician does outside of just what you learn in a standard high school classroom,” Brown said. “Instead of solving equations, you’re actually doing something that produces a result that is either useful for something else or just cool in and of itself.”

On March 29, Brown participated in Math Day again, this time leading his own mini session: “Mathematical Billiards,” which involved methods of geometry and physics.

“You get a glimpse of what a mathematician does outside of just what you learn in a standard high school classroom. Instead of solving equations, you’re actually doing something that produces a result that is either useful for something else or just cool in and of itself.”

Jake Brown ’22, a mathematics and physics double major.

Xander MacKenzie, a sophomore at Homer Central High School, attended Brown’s session. MacKenzie is currently taking Algebra 2 in school and says he’s always loved math.

“It’s my favorite subject and always has been,” MacKenzie said. “I just like solving challenging problems.”

Nearly 150 high school students from 12 schools across the region participated in Math Exploration Day 2022 at Ithaca College, exploring various math concepts in mini sessions held by professors and students in the Mathematics Department. Students also had the option to break into teams and compete in a math contest or sit in a “Math Exploration” session held by Math Professor Jim Conklin. Math Day seeks to get students excited about the subject beyond the classroom.

Math Professor Megan Martinez, who organized the event with her department, says she hopes the day gives students a memorable experience.

“I hope that they remember fondly the day, got to go hang out with their friends to do math and have a good time doing it,” Martinez said. “Maybe they learn something new and exciting that they didn’t know before. It’s about having fun and associating math with something vibrant.”

She says her favorite activity is the mini sessions at the end of the day.

Presenting a math equation during Math Day. (Photo Credit: Emily Hung '23)

“The students come and work on hands-on activities,” Martinez said. “I tend to do ones that are a little more artistic, and some of the students just really like drawing and will come by.”

Math major Martha Kemp-Neilson '23 led “Geometry Bubbles,” a session where students could submerge different tetrahedron shapes into soapy solutions to create different shapes. Kemp-Neilson says she wishes she had an experience similar to Math Day when she was in high school.

“It’s nice to see a younger generation getting exposed to math in a fun setting,” Kemp-Neilson said. “If I had been exposed to math at an earlier age, I feel like I would’ve been even more inclined to study math earlier on.”

In addition to the mini sessions, students had the chance to partake in this year’s math contest, which included problem sets ranging from algebra to trigonometry to probability. In groups of no more than four, 36 teams of students competed. A group from Vestal Senior High School took first place, and a team from Skaneateles High School and another team from Vestal Senior High School took second and third place, respectively.

The mastermind behind the exam, Math Professor Dave Brown, also held a session for teachers called “An Elementary Number Puzzle with Connections to Advanced Mathematics,” in which he discussed Tribonacci numbers.

MacKenzie says he wants to study math in college. Math Day gave him the chance to be exposed to different topics, and he hopes to be back again next year.

“It’s not like English or social science, where they can tell you there’s always more than one right answer,” MacKenzie said. “I enjoy math because there’s a way you have to do it, and you have to solve it that way.”