Dr. Chow is very excited to be joining your class. You can use the information below to prepare for our visit.
Instructor Bio
Pre-Workshop Materials
To prepare for your workshop we’re going to review a few concepts:
- Factors: these are the whole number that evenly divide a number. For example, the factors of 8 are 1, 2, 4, and 8.
- Prime Numbers: these are numbers whose only factors are 1 and itself (note: the number 1 is not considered a prime number as it is only divisible by 1)
- Prime Factorization: this is a unique set of prime numbers that make up any other number. For example, the prime factorization of 8 is 2 x 2 x 2. It is made up of only prime numbers, multiplied together. The prime factorization of 18 is 2 x 3 x 3. Every number can be written as a unique combination of prime factors. You can explore these more here as well: https://mathigon.org/polypad (under Prime Factor Circles and Dot Arrangements)
- Modular Arithmetic: This is a way of counting that resets after a specific number. For example, if we say mod 4 it means we count four digits (0, 1, 2, 3) and then return to 0. So if we ask what the number 6 is in mod 4 (6 mod 4) it means we count six digits, resetting when we reach four to give us 0, 1, 2, 3, 0, 1 or 6 mod 4 = 1. We can think of this like ‘clock math’ where you count to a certain amount and then reset, just like we do on a clock in 24 hour time. When we reach midnight (24) we reset back to 0. So 28 mod 24 would be 0 – 23, 0, 1, 2, 3 or 03:00. Just remember that the 0 counts as the first digit so our final number is always one less than the mod we are in.