Learn LaTeX, Math Monday, and More

[Berkeley MUSA]

Hi all,

Thank you to those who attended our first meeting last week! I'm glad the 20 pizzas we ordered went to good use. To those who figured out the knot theory game, congrats! The proof of why it works is left as an exercise to the reader. Here are this week's announcements:

LaTeX Workshop: Thursday, February 1, 6pm (1015 Evans)

Tired of receiving partial credit because your graders couldn't read your handwriting? We'll be holding a LaTex workshop! LaTeX is a typesetting language that is very useful if you want to create clean, professional notes and homework assignments, or create beautiful diagrams. We will give a crash course in LaTeX, and will have experts at the event to answer your questions and help you one-on-one.

Math Monday: Monday, January 29, 5pm (939 Evans)

As I mentioned at the meeting, we have a weekly lecture series given by various professors in the department. This week's speaker is John Steel, and the title is "Infinite Games". The abstract is below:

"We consider games of the following sort. There are two players, I and II, and a payoff set A. The players alternate making moves, and at the end of the game have produced an infinite sequence s of moves. Player I wins if and only if s is in A. This game is called G sub A, and it is said to be determined if one of the two players has a winning strategy.

For which A is G sub A determined? The question turns out to be a basic one in the foundations of mathematics. Its answer is intimately connected to the existence of infinities much larger than the countable infinity involved in the description of the game.

We shall explain this connection further, in a non-technical talk aimed at a general audience."

MUSA Office: M-F 10am-4pm (938 Evans)

Our office will officially be open starting this week. There will always be an officer there when it is open, so come by! Right now we offer free math homework printing (another reason to learn LaTeX) and a snazzy whiteboard. Within the next couple weeks we'll have cheap snacks and Berkeley Mathematics attire. I'll be in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-3pm, so if you ever wanted to witness my power firsthand then those would be the times I am available.

WiM First General Meeting: Monday, January 29, 6pm (1015 Evans)

Women in Mathematics at Berkeley will be having its first meeting tomorrow. MUSA and WiM often work in conjunction to bring the math community together, and I recommend checking it out if you want a welcoming, inclusive community suited for women in math.

MUSA Google Calendar:

Vice President Ning created a Google Calendar featuring MUSA events. For those of you who wish to add it to your account, you can do so here. Of course, it'll be updated as we go through the semester.

Expanding Your Horizons Conference: Saturday, March 17

This is a really great volunteering opportunity that serves to introduce 5th through 8th-grade girls to career opportunities in mathematics, science, engineering, computer science, and technology. This year, EYH will be inviting 450 young women from the East Bay community to explore math and science by participating in diverse workshops and interacting with female undergraduate mentors. If you wish to volunteer, you can sign up using this form. Any questions can be directed to eyhberkeleyvolunteers@gmail.com. 

Please note that I usually do not send out announcements from other groups looking to advertise; however, I participated in this conference last year and I had a great time. I was actually the only male volunteer though, so it was a little awkward... anyway, I encourage those interested to sign up!

As a final note, Ning and I try to be very open about meeting people in MUSA and the math department. If there's anything you want to discuss with me or Ning, regarding MUSA, math, or life in general, feel free to shoot me an email at rys...@berkeley.edu, or Ning at ningmc...@berkeley.edu.

Best,

Ryan Shaw

--

To join our email list visit <https://groups.google.com/a/lists.berkeley.edu/forum/#!forum/musa>

or send an empty email to <musa+su...@lists.berkeley.edu>. Alternatively, feel free to 

stop by 938 Evans Hall Monday through Friday from 10am to 4pm during the semester or visit 

our website at <http://musa.berkeley.edu> to find out about our events and how to get involved.

[Berkeley MUSA]

Reminder that our first Math Monday is today! It is going to be in 1015 Evans, NOT 939 Evans. In the following weeks, it will be in 939 Evans.