The newest club on campus plans a game show and world domination
(The Beacon)
By Amanda Blas, Staff Writer -- blas13@up.edu
When most people hear the word pie, they think of a tasty dessert. But for UP's newest club, the word brings up the number 3.14: A pi that most mathematicians enjoy better.
On Feb. 23, UP officially recognized the Math Club as its newest club, which, according to the club's constitution, is meant to bring together those who love math and all its wonders and to provide opportunities to explore and enjoy math topics and activities.
"I think it's good to have that kind of viewpoint of a mathematical mind to see it's not all just hard, difficult problems," Math Club President Samantha Warren, a junior, said. "Math can be fun, and that's what Math Club brings to the table."
The idea of the Math Club came up as a problem while some of the future club members were hanging out at the math tables on the second floor of Buckley Center.
"We were all wondering whether a math club really exists and found out that it didn't," Math Club Vice President Michelle Longtain, a freshman, said.
After putting two and two together, the problem was solved.
"We were talking about how cool it'd be to have a Math club and I said let's do it," Warren said.
And from there, the Math Club was born.
"We figured we always hang out by the math tables, so we might as well make a club out of it," Math Club Treasurer Olaia Urquidi, a junior, said.
Because they came together recently, the Math Club was not able to celebrate Pi Day on March 14, which honors the first three numbers of pi, 3.14. However, the club plans to host several other upcoming events.
"We're going to host 'Are You Smarter than a Mathematician,' which is a playoff on the gameshow 'Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader'," Longtain said. "We're planning on having that next semester."
The Math Club will also help students find out how they can make math into a career.
"We're going to work with a bunch of speakers to give talks and presentations," Warren said. "A lot of math majors don't know what to do with their careers so (the speakers) can talk about what they can do."
But don't be fooled: Math Club isn't just for math majors.
"Everyone benefits from math," Warren said. "After all, math just makes the world a better place in general."
Since its creation, Math Club has grown to include over 40 members, including non-math majors such as business majors, social science majors and even a nursing major. According to Math Club member Rachel Brauner, a junior biology major, having different majors as part of the Math Club helps bring an understanding of how math is used in different ways.
"It's interesting comparing math classes across majors to see how differently math is used," Brauner said. "But we're also able to find links in the math concepts we're using, which helps build bridges and bring majors together."
Warren feels the Math Club can help math seem less intimidating.
"I think Math Club will help give a different viewpoint of the mathematical mind to see it's not all just hard difficult problems. It can be fun," Warren said.
So what does the Math Club expect to achieve during its years at UP?
"World domination," Warren said. "And we even eventually want to get a cat, but the likeliness of getting that is slim."
