{"id":24559,"date":"2025-04-18T15:04:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T19:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=24559"},"modified":"2025-04-21T11:27:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T15:27:13","slug":"spot-kitchen-lecture-math","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/spot-kitchen-lecture-math\/","title":{"rendered":"Kitchen Lecture to ‘Spot’ Math at Play"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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If you\u2019ve ever played the game Spot it!, then you know it\u2019s both disarmingly simple and endlessly replayable. Each card features eight symbols, and between any two cards in the game deck, there is always one\u2014and only one\u2014matching symbol. Several variations change the mechanics, but the goal always remains the same: Be the fastest player to spot and name the matches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the secret to the game? How does it work? Well\u2014it may come down to math. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 29, at 7 p.m. in Dewing Hall Room 103, Sarah Koch will deliver a talk titled \u201cSpotting the Math in Spot it!,\u201d this year\u2019s installment of the George Kitchen Memorial Lecture at Kalamazoo College. The lectureship provides an opportunity for mathematicians to speak about their work in a way that is accessible to high school students and math educators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’ll play\u202fSpot it!\u202fand explore ways to answer various questions about the game,\u201d promises the description for the talk. \u201cWe will discover that there is a remarkable amount of mathematics underlying this game, including a tantalizing mathematical mystery.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Koch, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, researches complex dynamical systems, working to understand the infinitely complicated structure of beautiful fractals that emerge. She holds two Ph.D.s in mathematics, one from the Universit\u00e9 de Provence in Marseille, and one from Cornell University. She is the director of the Math Corps at U(M), a summer camp for middle schoolers and high school mentors from Ypsilanti and Detroit, and the organizer of the Math Mondays in Ypsi Program, which has temporarily been replaced with Super Saturdays. In addition to doing math, she enjoys teaching, working with students and making kindness chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Oloo, associate professor of mathematics<\/a> at Kalamazoo College, said Koch was suggested as a speaker by a visiting professor who had graduated from U of M.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did a bit of research and could see she loves doing this kind of talk,\u201d Oloo said. \u201cWe don’t choose just any mathematician. Our speakers are always active research mathematicians, and they like to give math talks aimed at an early high school sort of student. They like outreach. They tend to have a few talks prepared that are pitched at just the right level.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Kitchen
Sarah Koch, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, researches complex dynamical systems and will deliver the 2025 Kitchen Lecture through a game with math ties titled Spot It!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Spotting the Math<\/strong>
in Spot It!<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n