Senior Sessions

Once a week
2:00 pm to 2:45 pm ET

(online)

Senior citizens, exercise your brain in 45-minute math sessions!  Join MoMath’s experienced presenters for intriguing classes on a variety of stimulating topics, including topology, puzzles, and cryptography.  Enjoy the discovery and challenges in these engaging, interactive activities with a collegial cohort of mature minds.  Online registration closes 15 minutes before each session begins.

Please note that sessions of the same name are repeated sessions.

“Magic Squares”

Monday, July 7
Magic squares are a set of puzzles that have long fascinated many of the world’s most brilliant thinkers.  Dating back more than 4,000 years to ancient China, magic squares are those in which the sums of each column, row, and diagonal are always “magically” the same number!  Discover surprising strategies to solve these mysterious puzzles and learn how to create your very own magic square.  Materials needed: paper and pencil

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“Hailstone Numbers”

Thursday, July 17
Take any positive integer and follow a few simple steps…  repeat.  You will get a wild sequence that jumps up and down — just like hailstones in a storm — until it mysteriously settles at 1.  But does every number eventually land there?  That’s the puzzle behind the Collatz Conjecture, an unsolved math mystery that’s stumped even the greatest minds.  Legendary Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős once said, “Mathematics is not ready for such problems.”  Join us to experiment, explore, and perhaps even find your own path through this number riddle!  Materials needed: paper and pencil

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Exhibit Explorations: Pythagorean Puzzlers”

Tuesday, July 22
The Pythagorean theorem is one of the most important results in all of mathematics.  There are more than 120 geometric proofs currently known!  Explore geometric proofs in this hands-on workshop based on MoMath’s   Materials needed: pencil, paper, colored pens (or pencils/markers), ruler, scissors, and graph paper (printout available).

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“Cryptarithmetic”

Wednesday, July 30
Arithmetic is fun, but arithmetic with letters is even better!  Using process of elimination and clever logic, we will explore fundamental properties of base-10 arithmetic in a unique and challenging way.  Join us for CRYPT4R1THM3T1C!  Materials needed: pencil and paper

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“Fun on the Square Grid”

Thursday, August 7
Join us for fun on the grid!  Become a detective of geometry, searching for squares that are hiding in plain sight.  Discover surprising properties of random shapes that you create by connecting dots on a square grid.  Materials needed: paper, pencil, graph paper (printout available)

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“Sensational Puzzles”

Tuesday, August 12
Explore mathematical puzzles that grabbed the headlines!  Learn to solve spectacular and controversial puzzles using logic, probability, and basic graph theory; then develop puzzle-solving strategies while diving into these news-making mathematical conundrums.  Materials needed: pencil and paper.

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Play like a Mathematician: Bulgarian Solitaire

Wednesday, August 20
Join us for Bulgarian Solitaire, a simple and intriguing game first Introduced by Martin Gardner in 1983.  Grab a few tokens or a deck of cards and discover the mathematical elegance behind this fun and engaging puzzle.  Materials needed: paper, pencil, 25 small items for game tokens (coins, beans, paper clips, etc.) or a deck of cards.

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“Fractal Fascinations”

Thursday, August 28
Fractals are beautiful and mysterious objects with properties that defy the normal rules of geometry, often consisting of iterated, miniature versions of itself.  Learn about the most famous fractals and what makes them so unusual.  Materials needed: pencil and paper and triangle graph paper (link to print graph paper will be provided).

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This program is intended for adults; children will not be permitted to attend, and event registrations are non-refundable and non-transferrable.