Spring Workshop for High School Students
Since 1987, the Reed College mathematics and statistics department has sponsored a Saturday workshop in the spring for area high school students and teachers interested in mathematics enrichment. The workshop gives students and teachers a hands-on opportunity to work on interesting problems in a mathematical topic complementary to the high school curriculum. Recent topics have included "Infinity: Checking in at Hilbert's Infinite Hotel," "Probability: Chances Are," "Parentheses, Paths, and Partitions: Catalan Combinatorics," "Tangles, Braids, Knots, and Numbers," "Divisors and Sandpiles," "Regular Polytopes in Three and More Dimensions," "Turing Machines," and "Trigonometry by Example." See examples of past MathFest programs here.
There is no cost to participants.
Registration is open to high school students, plus teachers.
April 18, 2026 Program
Making Connections: Graphs and their Applications
Graphs, though not the ones you plot in precalculus, are mathematical abstractions which formalize the idea of connections between things -- things as varied as your network of friends and acquaintances, your local public transit system, the "co-star" network of actors and films, and even the collection of all the websites on the internet. We'll introduce and explore some of the foundational ideas in the subject known as graph theory, which has real world applications as well as its own connections (!) to deeper mathematics.
Faculty Presenters
Chris Kottke, Professor of Mathematics, and participating faculty
Registrants will also have the opportunity to meet Reed math majors and ask questions about their experience studying math in college!
Prerequisites
- High school student
- Enthusiasm for mathematics
- Pre-registration required
- Deadline to register: April 3, 2026
Registration
Registration for the 2026 MathFest is now open.
MathFest is open to high school students and their teachers.