QED – Math Circles of Chicago

In addition to sponsoring math enrichment in the form of courses around novel and motivating mathematics, the Math Circles of Chicago also sponsors QED, Chicago’s only Youth Math Symposium. QED is an opportunity for children to take the next step beyond math circles and do inquiry into novel mathematics of their own creation.

QED 2020 will be held on December 5th.

Pre-Registration for QED 2020 is closed; it will open on September 1st. If you have questions, email qed@mathcirclesofchicago.org.

What is a Math Symposium?

A Math Symposium is similar to Science Fair, except that the projects focus on math instead of science. The math projects can be extensions of classroom problems or competition problems that a student has found interesting.

QED is the name of our Math Symposium. QED is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase “quod erat demonstrandum,” which is commonly used to signal the completion of a mathematical proof.

Chicago is an area with a large number of strong math students. Although our city has solid representation at math competitions, our city is under-represented at statewide and nationwide math fairs. We hope that QED will foster students’ interest in mathematics and, in so doing, showcase Chicago’s strength in mathematics.

Questions? Email us at qed@mathcirclesofchicago.org

Deadlines, Dates, and Rubrics

Students intending to enter the symposium must pre-register on our website no later than TBA.
Senior Division must submit a paper at the time of pre-registration.
Junior and Intermediate Divisions have to submit a title at the time of pre-registration.
Pre-registration MUST occur electronically; we will not accept phone or paper pre-registrations.
Saturday, December 5, 2020 – Presentation Day
Students should plan on arriving at Walter Payton College Prep no later than 8:30 am to set up their projects, present their work, and participate in a day of exciting mathematical activities.
Entries will be judged using these rubrics for the Senior Division and for the Junior and Intermediate Divisions.
Requirements for papers and presentation boards are on the pre-registration page here.

Project Categories

In general, quality work will not be penalized for being entered into the “wrong” category, so long as there seems to be a reasonable relationship between the paper and category. For example, a project incorporating a new technique for simulating the drilling of holes could be entered in either the applied math or computer science category without penalty.

Pure mathematics: includes number theory, probability, and extensions of traditional algebra “word” problems
Applied mathematics: any problems arising out of real-world situations, including computer simulations of such situations
Computer science: problems involving algorithms, computability, complexity

Math Research Links

Finding a good research problem can be as easy as extending a problem from class or a contest. For example, “How many integers are factors of 144?” could become, “How can you count the number of factors of a given integer?”

Other resources are listed at right, and further down this page you can find projects submitted in previous years. Click here to learn about the QED advisor program.

QED’s own lists of research problems from our first workshop and our second workshop
GoGeometry’s list of open problems
COMAP’s problem bank at mathmodels.org
Old AIME and IMO questions
Brian Hayes’s columns and book reviews at The American Scientist
Joseph Malkovitch’s list of math research resources

Know of another? Email qed@mathcirclesofchicago.org and we’ll add it to the list!

Pre-Registration for QED 2020 will open on September 1st. If you have questions, email qed@mathcirclesofchicago.org.

Anticipated Math Symposium Schedule

Saturday, December 5th, 2020

8:15am Doors open to students
9:00am Welcome
9:15am-noon Judging
Noon-12:30pm Lunch
12:30-12:55pm Judging; Exhibits open to the public
1:00pm Keynote Speaker – TBA
2:00pm Awards

Examples of work from previous years:
Junior Division

Senior Division

We Need Your Help!

QED is looking for volunteers to help with logistics and, crucially, to judge projects and offer young researchers constructive (and encouraging) criticism at our symposium on December 7th Volunteers will receive snacks, T-shirts, and our sincere gratitude, as well as the opportunity to see some terrific work from kids in and around the city.