Explorations in Topology

image courtesy bored-now
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Taught by Anna Weltman

Anna loves: math, art, cooking, crafts, making music, teaching, and learning about all kinds of things.  She has loved everything on that list since she was little - except for the first. That’s new. Anna teaches 3rd-12th grade math at Saint Ann’s School and learns how to do math along with all of that other stuff (often simultaneously) there and wherever else she gets the chance.

Blogs:
Recipes for Pi
Math Munch

Co-taught with Paul Salomon

Paul is a math nerd living in Brooklyn.  He's also a juggler, musician, mathematical artist, and father-to-be from Saint Louis. He teaches math to grades 5-12 at Saint Ann's School, and he's thankful to be done with his Masters. Now he can really learn some stuff.

Blogs:
Lost in Recursion
Math Munch

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Here is yet another in a series of math classes for all at the Brainery!

Enter the mysterious world of topology, a mathematical wonderland full of fascinating places to go, creatures to meet, and things to do.

Meet the Mobius strip, and ponder how a strip of paper that you could swear had two sides before you connected its ends now only has one. Surely nothing bizarre can happen when you do something as mundane a cutting it in half... but now you’re not so sure. Take a trip on a Klein bottle, which feels an awful lot like walking around on a sphere - except when you end up inside of it without crossing any noticeable boundaries. Do some coloring. I know that sounds rather less exciting than any of the other things mentioned. But it’s actually far riskier and full of even more unknowns than your Klein bottle trip or Mobius strip slicing.

In this class, you’ll explore topology, the study of space, one of the most uncharted branches of mathematics. You’ll cut, paste, twist, and color your way to some remarkable discoveries - and all the way to the frontiers of mathematics.  One of the remarkable things about topology is that the most interesting questions are the easiest to pose.  The only prerequisites are the ability to hold a colored pencil and cut in a reasonably straight line.

 

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