Mihika Bansal

Math appears everywhere! Try to spot where the math was used in this photo.

One of the most common sayings I hear in and out of math class is, “We’re never going to use this in the real world. What is the point of even learning this?” I used to think the same way too. Most of us will not be using every theorem and equation in real life. However, in my opinion, math class is less about the math content and more about learning how to think critically.

I like to think of math problems like puzzles because some information is given, there is a goal to reach, and the steps depend on the person solving it. Repeating that cycle over and over again builds a stronger brain, especially when the initial idea does not work. 

My teachers have always referred to math class like the gym for the brain. When you first go to the gym, it is difficult, tiring, and requires struggling to achieve success. When you lift weights, you do it to get stronger, not because you will carry dumbbells everywhere you go for the rest of your life. Math has the same mentality behind it because every hard problem that you solve builds the focus, patience, and strength in your brain to help in every life problem that comes your way, math related or not. 

To me, the struggle is the most important step because your brain is challenged the most, like moving up weights in any exercise at the gym. Staying calm, trying again and again, and pushing through confusion is how growth happens. My piece of advice for the struggling step would be to never skip it by searching up the problem or looking at the answer key, just like if you went to the gym and came out one minute later without working out. 

Therefore, even if you don’t use every equation in the future, you are still gaining critical thinking skills that will help you in every problem that comes your way for the rest of your life.

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Mihika Bansal

Math midterms always sneak up on me when I least expect it. One moment I am flipping through notes from the most recent class, and the next moment I realize that a midterm is around the corner, covering the application problems that I never learned how to do. However, with a few right tips and tricks, the midterm will feel like a walk in the park on test day.

Preparing in Advance: 

One of the most important ways to prepare for the midterm is to begin studying early. Two or three weeks before the exam, start by compiling all of your notes, homework assignments, groupwork problems, and review sheets to create a list of all the topics, theorems, formulas, and application problems that you have covered in the semester. Then, identify the topics that feel comfortable to you and the ones that need more practice. Procrastinating and cramming for six hours straight the night before the test will be much less beneficial to the learning process. Instead, start earlier because it will help ease the stress and allow you to have more time to practice.

As you begin to work through problems, try to avoid rote memorization. Sketching graphs, color-coding steps, and making flow charts help with truly understanding the concepts and allow your brain to visualize why and how the math works. Math as a way of clicking when every step is spelled out on the paper, not by memorizing the problems and answers. 

Lastly, prioritize the quality of your preparation. Studying fifteen hours with text messages dinging, worksheets everywhere, and answer keys right next to the problems is worthless compared to a concentrated five hours of preparation with neat step-by-step solutions and a noise-free environment. 

Test Day:

On midterm day, stay positive because your attitude matters as much as the preparation. Every time I begin a test, I always mess up the first problem from nerves, so taking the minute to scan all of the questions and solving the ones you feel most confident about is worth it.

Additionally, it would not be a math test without a few challenging questions thrown in that you have never seen before. At the beginning of the exam, try not to spend too long on the problem if the method choice isn’t clear right away. Coming back to the problem later on often makes the ideas more obvious and at the very least, work through the problem as much as you can to show some understanding instead of leaving it completely blank. 

If you finish early, check your work! For me, the majority of my mistakes are small errors like forgetting to flip inequalities or missing parentheses. Simply using the last five minutes to go over the problems and evaluating if they make sense can boost your performance overall. 

Finally, remember to breathe throughout the exam. A small inhale and exhale help reduce stress and enhance concentration.

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Mihika Bansal

Magic squares are a mathematical concept that I learned in sixth grade during finals week, when my brain was crammed with long formulas, complicated theorems, and random problem-solving techniques. My math teacher sat down with me, and instead of going over the same concepts again, he taught me magic squares. 

A magic square is a square of numbers where every row, column, and diagonal sum to the same total. Most people have seen the famous 3×3 magic square using the numbers from 1 through 9. This is what it looks like:

8       1       6

3       5       7

4       9       2

If you add the numbers from top to bottom, left to right, corner to corner, everything adds to 15. I first thought that it was just a random number – that the entire concept of magic squares was pointless. However, I quickly realized the term “magic constant,” which showed up when I added all of the numbers to get 45 and divided it by 3 (number of rows) to get 15. Even though magic squares might feel like a simple division problem – like all math, the different processes of solving the problem (or in this case, constructing the grid) makes everything a whole lot more interesting. 

For example, the Siamese method is a traditional method for odd-number magic squares, which was brought to France in 1688 by Simon de la Loubére, a French mathematician. First, start with the number 1 in the top middle, then keep moving up and to the right. If you get to the position where the number is off the grid, wrap it around to the last row or first column. If one of the spots is taken by a number, simply drop down vertically and continue. In the end, all of the boxes are filled and the square becomes perfectly symmetrical, like the example below.

Now, going back to the part where I used to think that “the entire concept of magic squares was pointless.” It turns out that the magic square represented harmony in some cultures, as it was carved onto temples and statues. Even artists like Albrecht Dürer incorporated magic squares into their paintings, hiding the year the painting was made in the bottom row of the square. Can you spot it in the blog picture? Or try creating a magic square in a 4×4 matrix?

Magic squares are one of hundreds of mathematical topics that just teach you to enjoy math for what it is, not just for cramming the night before a math test.

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Mihika Bansal

Art and math feel like opposites at first; one uses imagination and creativity, and the other relies on logic and rules. However, math exists behind so much of the beauty we see, especially in art.

One of the most straightforward examples is origami. Folding paper into cranes or stars from sticky notes might seem purely a way to pass time in class through art, but it is based on angles, symmetry, and geometry through algorithms that turn shapes into foldable designs. Through a career lense, many engineers use origami to design solar panels and medical devices, simply from the folding that we learn for fun. 

Symmetry is another place math shows up in art through tile patterns, traditional mandala-style designs, and portraits. Artists often use the transformation skills from graphing, like reflection, rotation, and translation to bring balance to their work. The shifting up and down units is key to the work of many artists. For example, Maurits Cornelis Escher (M.C. Escher), a pioneer in art and mathematics, created mind-bending patterns that were inspired entirely by geometry and tessellations.

We also can’t forget about the Fibonacci Sequence and Golden Ratio; two patterns that appear in shells, flowers, and pinecones. Artists often use the same ratios to design layouts and compositions for the visual satisfaction of their audience. 

In the digital world, math is the backbone of creativity through animations, visual effects, and graphic design. The curves, vectors, and equations bring characters and images from fan-favorite cartoons to life. Behind every beautiful motion graphic and 3D model is the world of mathematics. 

From the doodles and sketches in notebooks to folded stars and hearts, math makes it all work. Art and math go hand in hand, and often, combining them is where real magic happens. 

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Mihika Bansal

This past summer, I had the opportunity to teach math to seventh graders through a month-long internship. The students came from under-resourced, low-income, and first-generation families, where they could not get help from tutors or educated parents if they didn’t understand a concept. 

Students were exposed to ratios, proportions, time, and other math skills used in everyday life. The concepts opened up new ways of thinking that the students could carry with them for the rest of their lives. For example, being able to read the clock accurately or solve a problem on ratios gave them confidence that math is a subject they can love, not run away from. 

One of the best parts of the experience was watching the students’ attitudes toward math evolve over the four weeks. I remember walking in the classroom on the first day, seeing half of the class with heads on their desks, and a few of them talking amongst themselves on how they would “fail the class from being bad at math.” After a few weeks, those same students ran into the room excited for groupwork activities, projects, and games, where they could solve problems with pride and confidence in themselves. Even the smallest of achievements, like correctly solving a ratio on the board or explaining a solution to a peer, created moments of excitement in the classroom.

I received valuable skills too, like patience when I explained the concepts in different ways until it clicked with each and every student. It taught me how important encouragement is, especially when students may not always have access to consistent resources or support.

By the end of the internship, I could see how much the students had grown. They were more confident, willing to try problems on their own, and genuinely interested in learning something new. Watching them improve and gain confidence made the experience so rewarding. It reminded me that teaching isn’t just about passing down knowledge, but more about helping people believe in themselves and their abilities.

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Mihika Bansal

The Tower of Hanoi involves many mathematical concepts, two of which are recursion and fractals.

Recursion: 

Recursion helps achieve the goal of moving all the disks from the first peg to the third in the least possible number of moves. In broader terms, recursion helps break down a large problem into smaller pieces for efficiency and accuracy. For the Tower of Hanoi, recursion is specifically used to continue making “towers” until the disk with the largest radius is able to directly move to the third peg for the other disks to stack on top. Therefore, the more disks, the more moves. By using the formula S = 2n − 1 (where S is the fewest number of moves to get all the disks from the first peg to the third peg and n is the number of disks), you can find the least possible number of moves for any number of disks n without physically solving the problem. 

Fractals: 

Fractals are smaller replicas of a larger idea, another concept that comes into play with the Tower of Hanoi. For example, in nature, fractals can show up like the petals in the leaf (replicating the leaf itself)! 

The Tower of Hanoi can be expressed as a fractal too, known as the Sierpiński Triangle.

The Sierpiński Triangle begins with an equilateral triangle, where all the angles of the triangle are 60 degrees, and all the side lengths are equal. Then, another equilateral triangle is formed in the center, after connecting the midpoints of the larger triangle (see the biggest white triangle.) Afterward, the triangle is removed, and three smaller equilateral triangles are formed where the same process continues again to infinity. 

How does this relate to the Tower of Hanoi?

This animation on the computer (link below) shows how the Tower of Hanoi is represented in the triangle: 

https://math.ucdavis.edu/~romik/downloads/hanoi-animation.gif 

The bolded red line shows the fewest number of moves with four disks. There are many other possible ways, not necessarily the fewest number of moves, to solve the puzzle through the triangle from the top to the bottom right corner, zigzagging through smaller triangles.

References

“Tower of Hanoi.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 10 Nov. 2023, www.britannica.com/topic/Tower-of-Hanoi.  

Admin. “Solving the Tower of Hanoi.” Futurum, 16 June 2021, futurumcareers.com/solving-the-tower-of-hanoi.

Jost, Eugen. Beautiful Geometry. Princeton University Press, 2017.

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Mihika Bansal

The Tower of Hanoi, also known as the Lucas Tower, was invented by the French mathematician, Èdouard Lucas, in 1883. Throughout his lifetime from birth on April 4, 1842 to death on October 3, 1891, Lucas was best known for his studies in number theory, particularly his work in the Fibonacci Sequence and his invention of the Tower of Hanoi.

The Tower of Hanoi is made up of:

Three long pegs

Eight to ten circular disks with different radii

The Two Rules:

Rule 1:  You can only put a smaller disk on top of a bigger one (not the other way around.)

Rule 2: You can only move the top disk in the stack from one peg to another peg.

The Goal:

The goal of the game is to get all of the disks from the first peg to the third peg in the least number of moves.

Start with 3 disks on peg 1 as a Tower of Hanoi, i.e., with the disks arranged in the order of smallest to largest radii (smallest being on the top of the pile).

Follow the two rules listed above and try to solve the puzzle, counting your moves.

After you have solved it once or twice, ask yourself, “can you do it again with fewer moves?”

Increase the difficulty by adding more disks when you think you have solved the puzzle with the fewest moves possible per n disks!

NOTE: PART 2 OF TOWER OF HANOI COMING SOON (with mathematical concepts involved)!! Try out the game online and see if you can spot any patterns/formulas!

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Mihika Bansal

Summertime gives all of us a few months for some extra practice, training, and time to recharge!

Here are a few tips on how you can make the most out of your summer with math, while also resting and recovering!

Set a reasonable goal for yourself every day! You know yourself the best, so find time to have fun but also continue practicing. For example, many AMC fans would benefit from working on some of the past tests to prepare them for the AMC of their level during the school year. One strategy that helps me is to flag my incorrect answers and filter out the concepts that I need to work on for the rest of the week.

If you love summer camps, enroll in a few math ones! Not only will you get the opportunity to bond with math-loving people and create lifelong friendships, there will be a new chance everyday to learn new topics, strategies, and skills through mentors who have more experience and knowledge to offer. Some popular summer camps mainly for high schoolers are PROMYS, Awesome Math, SUMaC, and G2 Math Program.

Challenge yourself! Unlike the urge to get a perfect grade in school by avoiding risks, summer is perfect for pushing boundaries and finding out what you are capable of. For example, set time limits when attempting a set of problems, take advantage of the infinite number of math problems out in the world to try new ones everyday, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

Lastly, make time to recharge your brain after a long school year – it will sharpen your problem-solving skills and uplift your attitude! Hanging out with friends, listening to music, playing sports, and exploring new places are great ways to refresh and relax during the summer.

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Mihika Bansal

Trust your preparation: You have already done all of the preparation for the competition; no need to stress or get anxious before the contest begins! You’ve got this!

Believe in yourself: If you are questioning whether you’re good enough, just know that you are more than good enough! It takes real courage and determination to register for a contest, let alone the time preparing for it. 

Pace yourself wisely: Don’t spend too much time on any one hard problem and solve the ones that are easier first. You will gain momentum and feel confident in yourself after knocking some of the problems out.

Read carefully: Read each question carefully. Skimming through questions is one of the most common ways to make silly mistakes and can be easily avoidable through patience and understanding the question word for word. 

Stay hydrated: Yes, really! It is proven that drinking water will increase brain function and critical-thinking skills. Also, getting a headache from dehydration during a competition will impact your problem solving abilities. 

Connect with mathematicians: Math competitions are an amazing way to make lifelong friendships, especially with people who share the same interests and love for math!

Enjoy the experience: During the contest, don’t think too much about the result or scores. As Dr. Alice Cortinovis once said, “If a math competition goes well, that’s great! If it doesn’t, who cares?” That being said, the key for success for any contest is to practice beforehand. 

Be curious: Approach the competition experience with an open mind. It is never too late to learn something new and staying curious will help you make the most out of the contest. Every competition is a chance to learn something new.

Set a personal goal: Setting a new goal for each math competition will boost your self-confidence, and you will truly use the competition experience to your advantage.

Have fun: Lastly, have a good time during the contest! Math competitions are supposed to be fun, so celebrate it while you have the chance.

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Mihika Bansal

A few days ago, I got a valuable opportunity to be on my school’s Purple Comet Team! Purple Comet “is a free, annual, international, online, team, mathematics competition designed for middle and high school students that has been held every year since 2003” (https://purplecomet.org/). This year 3,752 teams from 75 countries registered for the competition, an incredible testament to the global love and importance for math.

Our team of six challenged ourselves in each problem with focus and determination and felt rewarded after solving them, sharing our ideas, and supporting one another. It wasn’t just about getting the right answers – it was about collaboration, critical-thinking, and bonding over our love of math. 

Personally, there was one aspect of the competition that could have been better; more girls on my school team and the competition. When I shared the list of team members with one of my math teachers, his first reaction was, “Oh! You’re the only girl.” It wasn’t because other girls weren’t capable of solving problems; however, the reason was more about the discouragement and self-doubt that prohibited them from competing. When I encouraged one of my math-loving friends to join, she frowned and said, “Mihika, I’m not good enough!” That was a sad moment for me as she is one of the smartest and talented people I know. 

One piece of advice I would give to all of the girls is that if I learned to believe in myself, everyone can do the same. Sometimes, I lack confidence and tell myself that I am not as knowledgeable or skilled, but I then remember that there are people who support me in everything I do, especially the math team. As I wrote in my earlier blog on Math + Girls = Fun, Dr. Cortinovis said, “If a math competition goes well, that’s great! If it doesn’t, who cares? So, participate because you have nothing to lose.”  

Also, team competitions are priceless ways to begin the math competition journey and gain experience because most members are uplifting, inspiring, and contributing to a positive team morale. So, take the first step. You are more than good enough.

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