Dalhousie Virtual Math Circles:  Logic and Puzzles

Sarah Meng Li, a Mathematics and Computer Science Honours student at Dalhousie University, presented an interesting workshop on Logic and Puzzles on Wednesday, January 27^th.  The presentation was virtual and several Junior School students took part interactively from home. The study of mathematics is about more than computation skills and memorized algorithms.  Ms. Li’s workshop focused on logic, a branch of mathematics that emphasizes a way of thinking, observing and understanding the world around us.  The language of logic was investigated:  propositions, connectives and truth tables were explored.  Then students got down to work, exercising good deductive reasoning skills as they tackled logic problems ranging in levels of difficulty.  Included in these activities was the popular “knights and knaves” logic puzzle, which involved knights who always tell the truth and knaves who always lie.  Other puzzles that demanded careful critical thinking skills were tackled as well.  Please click here if you would like to try one of the Math questions and click here to find the answer.  At the end of the session, Ms. Li complimented our KES group on their contributions and success. I commend Anthony Wheeler, Brin Lloyd, Ellie Blois, Hunter Hood, Lillian Blois and Owen Xu for their interest in mathematical enrichment and for being such excellent KES representatives.  The next Math Circles event will be on February 24^th.  I hope to see you there!