KU celebrates math this month

Get out your pencils and calculators. Kansas University is celebrating national Math Awareness Month with events for students and the public.

More than 300 elementary, junior high and high school students from schools in Kansas and Missouri will participate in a competition today in Room 406 at Snow Hall, 1460 Jayhawk Blvd. Prizes will be awarded to the top students in each category during the mathematics department’s honors banquet April 23 at the Adams Alumni Center, 1266 Oread Ave.

Elementary students will learn how math is used in everyday life during a workshop on April 16 at Hillcrest School, 1045 Hilltop Drive.

Two mathematically minded speakers will also be featured this month.

Shane Haas, who received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics and electrical engineering from KU and now works for a New York investment firm, will speak at the Russ Bradt Undergraduate Colloquium at 4 p.m. April 22 in Room 120 of Snow Hall.

Craig Huneke, the Henry J. Bischoff Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at KU, will give a talk titled “Mathematics and Voting” at 4 p.m. April 29 in Room 120 of Snow Hall.