Recreational Mathematics Colloquium VI

Andreas Hinz (Germany)

Aviezri Fraenkel (Israel)

Colin Wright (UK)

David Singmaster (UK)

Fernando Blasco (Spain)

Lisa Rougetet (France)

Richard Nowakowski (Canada)

Robin Wilson (UK)

Tereza Bártlová (Czech Republic)

Thane Plambeck (USA)

Yossi Elran (Israel)

Saturday, January 26th

8:30 – Registration

9:00 – Opening session

9:30 – David Singmaster, London South Bank University
_         The bridges of Koenigsberg

10:00 – Carlos Pereira dos Santos, CEAFEL 
_           Raymond Smullyan's legacy: A centennial celebration

10:30 – Fernando Blasco, Polytechnic University of Madrid
_           The magic of the periodic table

11:00 – Coffee break

11:30 – Richard Nowakowski, Dalhousie University
_           A matter of perspective

12:00 – José Carlos Santos, University of Oporto
_           Tiling boards

12:30 – Luis Trabucho, FCT-UNL 
_           On the probability equilibrium of the Egyptian game Senet

13:00 – Break for lunch

14:30 – Pedro Freitas, FCUL, University of Lisbon 
_           Euler's formula and the Pascal triangle

15:00 – Aleksandra Ravas
_ Carl Friedrich Gauss and the formula for the sum of the first n natural number

15:30 – Adrien Lochon, 
_           How a magician hacks the brain

16:00 – Coffee break

16:30 – Colin Wright, Solipsys Ltd 
_           Pythagoras, Archimedes, and the napkin ring

17:00 – Guido Ramellini, MMACA
_ No gardeners like M. Gardner

17:30 – Francisco Mousinho, ESTAL
_ A gambling portrait: cheating devices and their story

18:00 – Peter Lynch, University College Dublin
_ Magnums: Counting Sets with Surreals

19:00 – Conference dinner

Sunday, January 27th

9:30 – Robin Wilson, Open University, UK
_         Lewis Carroll's “A Tangled Tale”

(Handout)

10:00 – Hugo Almeida
_ The sweet algorithm

10:30 – Jaime Carvalho e Silva, University of Coimbra
_ A reflection on the ideas of Miguel de Guzman about games and teaching mathematics

11:00 – Coffee break

11:30 – Hélder Pinto, CIDMA-UA, ESE – Piaget & Cristina Silva Institute, ES Pinhal Novo
_ «Head Accounts» – a book of mathematical riddles edited by FPF

12:00 – Ricardo Teixeira, University of Houston – Victoria
_           An innovative card trick that combines classical concepts

12:30 – Francisco Albuquerque Picado, University of Lisbon
_ “The book of numbers”: Unveiling sequences

13:00 – Break for lunch

14:30 – Carlota Simões & Cristina Cordeiro, University of Coimbra
_           The numerical calculation of God: a humorous text by Boris Vian

15:00 – Rogerio Martins, FCT
_ The biggest secrets in the world

16:00 – Public session: The maths and magical cabaret

During the course of an hour and a half we aim to entertain you with various acts taken from Magic, Maths and their intersection. All presented in the National Museum of Natural History and Science*. Hosted by the Circo Matemático we'll have various performers from various places of the globe each with their unique act and skills.

Adrien Lochon | France
Colin Wright | Australia
Mathematical Circus | Portugal
Francisco Mousinho | Portugal
Ricardo Teixeira | Brazil
Sydney Weaver | United States of America

*Admission to the show is free. 

Monday, January 28th

9:30 – Andreas M. Hinz, LMU Munich
_         Are the Chinese Rings Chinese?

10:00 – Rodrigo Girão Serrao, MMA-IST
_            N{MATH}

10:30 – Flavia Sancier-Barbosa, Colorado College 
_           Defending with one or three dice: What are the RISKs?

11:00 – Coffee break

11:30 – Jorge Buescu, University of Lisbon
_           The magical mystery Thue-Morse

12:00 –Tiago Hirth, Ludus
_ Topomagic, always the same trick?

12:30 – Lisa Rougetet, Université de Bretabne Occidentale
_            The “Ozanam Project”

13:00 – Break for lunch

14:30 – Jose Paulo Viana
_            Cyclic surprises

15:00 – Tereza Bártlová, Charles University 
_            History of recreational mathematics

15:30 – Joaquim Eurico Nogueira, FCT-UNL 
_           Palindromes

16:00 – Coffee break

16:30 – Andrew Shirtz
_           High dimensioned Gosper-like space filling curves

17:00 – Andreia Hall, Paulo Almeida, Sonia Pais & Paolo Vettori, University of Aveiro
_           Mathematical Circus clown tricks

17:30 – Urban Larsson, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
_ Cumulative Subtraction Games

Tuesday, January 29th

9:30 – Antonio Araujo, UAb
_         Urban sketching with spherical perspective

10:00 – Alexandre Mena e Silva, CSJ
_           Symmetry in the walls of the Palace of Ramalhão

10:30 – Ravi Kant Rai, IEOR, IIT Bombay
_           Who wins the Gambling Tic-Tac-Toe?

11:00 – Coffee break

11:30 – Adam Atkinson
_           Real life problems and a vast conspiracy

12:00 – Felipe Cabral, University of Coimbra
_           A Mathematical Modeling Activity: optimization and planning of operating room

12:30 – Filipe Papança, Military Academy
_           Bemposta Palace, Military Academy Museums and laboratory

13:00 – Break for lunch

Kaleidoscope Auditorium, Campo Grande

15:00 – Our dearest problems. Chair: Jorge Buescu (CMAF-IO)

_ Adam Atkinson: The subheaps problem

_ Andreas M. Hinz: The Linear Tower of Hanoi

_ Guido Ramellini: Big box

_ Ricardo Teixeira: Collatz conjecture

_ Thane Plambeck: Guessing Red or Black

10 minutes each. At the end of all presentations there will be a Q&A period.

16:30 – Closing, Presence of Professor António Feijó, Vice-Rector of the University of Lisbon