St. Bonaventure University Department of Mathematics

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St. Bonaventure University Department of Mathematics

We highlight the joy, beauty, & power of mathematics & celebrate the accomplishments of our students.

02/22/2026

Welcome to the SEVENTH Collaborative Math Club & History Club Game Night! The two clubs gathered on February 20th to enjoy pizza and pop and play Codenames, Set, and other games of strategy and chance. Thanks to History Club President Maddie Kottwitz (second from left) and Math Club President Niamh Moore (seventh from right) for organizing this wonderful event! Will there be an EIGHTH Collaborative Game Night? You can count on it!

12/14/2025

Congratulations to Madigan Collver, Class of 2026, on her successful senior math presentation! Madigan is an Adolescence Education Major with a Concentration in Mathematics. She presented her paper, “The Structure of Solutions: A Concise Take on the Unsolvability of the General Quintic Polynomial by Radicals,” on December 8th. Madigan described Evariste Galois' 19th-century breakthrough showing that some polynomial equations of degree 5 cannot be solved using a formula that is analogous to the quadratic formula. Her project was inspired by a highly concise approach to the topic from a 1994 paper by John Stillwell. The project was mentored by Dr. Christopher Hill.

11/23/2025

Congratulations to Robert Hermansen, Class of 2026, on his successful senior math presentation! Robert is an Adolescence Education Major with a Concentration in Mathematics. He presented his paper, “Proving the Bertrand–Chebyshev Theorem,” on November 21st to a packed classroom. Robert described Erdős’ ingenious proof of the Bertrand–Chebyshev Theorem, which states that for any integer greater than 1, there is at least one prime number between the integer and its double. The project was mentored by Dr. Christopher Hill. (Note Robert's appropriate attire: the Math Department's tee shirt featuring the 1858-digit St. Bonaventure prime.)

11/09/2025

We had a fantastic Integral Day celebration! On October 29th the Math Department celebrated the 350th anniversary of Gottfried Leibniz’s invention of the integral sign. Our Integral Day Contest, which featured a list of ten integrals whose difficulty approached infinity, was one of our most competitive. Six courageous students participated and just 2.5% separated the top two scores. And the winner is... Alena Kilminster! Alena received a “Math is an integral part of my life” coffee mug and almost unimaginable prestige. A special thanks to Adolescence Education Major with a Mathematics Concentration Parker Supon for creating the glorious title for our Integral Day display. Students and faculty contributed the “graffiti,” including integral formulas, math jokes, and some encouragement in Spanish. Visitors enjoyed cookies decorated with integral and summation symbols, courtesy of Olean Food Barn. See you for Pi Day 2026!

10/18/2025

Welcome to the SIXTH Collaborative Math Club & History Club Game Night! The campus was invited to join the two clubs on October 8th to play games of strategy and chance and enjoy pizza and pop. The selfie was taken by History Club President Maddie Kottwitz. Math Club President Niamh Moore is seen in the second quadrant, near the y-axis. The second photo shows folks playing “On Par,” a game created by Math alum Ethan McKeone, Class of 2020. Thanks, Ethan! Will there be a SEVENTH Collaborative Game Night? Naturally!

10/05/2025

On Saturday, October 4 the Department of Mathematics presented Guesstimation Games at the 2025 "Fall in Love with Science" at Lincoln Park. Adolescence Education with Math Concentration major Hannah Park ‘28 and Dr. Christopher Hill offered participants two chances to play: guess the number of spooky spiders in one jar and the number of cheese puffs in the other. Forty-five courageous people made guesses, some employing a ruler, pen & paper, and a calculator and others relying on their gut instincts.

The EXACT numbers were… 717 spiders and 901 cheese puffs. The closest guesses were 732 spiders and 858 cheese puffs. Congratulations to the two winners! Each winner could choose either a $20 gift certificate from the Olean Chamber of Commerce or an awesome SBU math tee shirt as their prize. This year both winners opted for an awesome math tee shirt. Thanks to everyone who participated, and thanks to Hannah Park for her invaluable assistance!

"Fall in Love with Science" is an annual event organized by Dr. Xiaoning Zhang in which St. Bonaventure clubs and departments offer the community fun science- and health-related activities. Thank you, Dr. Zhang!

09/29/2025

The Math Club on Saturday, September 27th raised funds at the Family Weekend Festival by selling our SBU math tee shirts. Thanks to the many students and parents who purchased our tee shirts to support the Math Club! And thanks to Niamh Moore ’28 and Kaden Cruz ‘28, Math Club President and Treasurer, for selling the tee shirts!

The front design of our tee shirts consists of an 1858-digit prime number formatted in a nearly rectangular array that bears a striking resemblance to the SBU bell tower logo. The number of digits matches the year of the school’s founding. The prime was found by mathematics major Erica Low ‘22, computer science major Matt Weimer ’22, and Dr. Chris Hill of the Department of Mathematics. The graphic design was provided by marketing & management major John “Jack” Steger ‘22. The back design says, “St. Bonaventure Mathematics.”

Do you have YOUR awesome SBU math tee shirt? If not, contact Dr. Hill to order yours in white or ash gray!

09/15/2025

Our fall 2025 Math Welcome Party was a great success! To kick off the new school year, we invited all math enthusiasts to the Math Suite for pizza and pop. Thanks to Math Club Prez Niamh Moore for the accompanying selfie. The first Math Club meeting of the year will be Friday, September 19th at 3:30 in the Math Suite. Come for a discussion of future plans for the club and general enjoyable mathiness!

06/11/2025

We’re a little late with this posting, but we really want to congratulate our Class of 2025! Keon Cruz received a B.S. degree in Mathematics Adolescent Education, Julia Marinaro received a B.S. degree in Adolescence Education with a Concentration in Mathematics, and Katherine Kuzniar received a B.S. degree with dual majors in Engineering Physics and Mathematics. Keon and Julia graduated Magna Cum Laude and Katie graduated Summa Cum Laude. Good luck to all in your future endeavors!

The following photos are from Commencement, the Senior Picnic, and the School of Arts & Sciences Honors and Awards Ceremony.

At Commencement Julia wore a white stole signed by her 7th graders from Springville Middle School. They were very excited when she showed them photos of her wearing it!

Katie won the Myra J. Reed Mathematics Award, which is given to the senior who, upon the recommendation of the Department of Mathematics, has demonstrated general excellence in mathematics throughout their undergraduate career. Katie appears second from left in the group photo from the Senior Picnic.

04/13/2025

Welcome to the newest members of the New York Omega Chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon, the national mathematics honor society: Madigan Collver '26, Jackson Dry '26, Danielle Folland '26, Elizabeth Kraus '25, and Nele Vetter '26. Dr. Maureen Cox inducted the new members on April 11th, assisted by current PME member Alex Behr '25. The inductees were joined by friends, family, and faculty. Election into PME is based substantial mathematical achievement and a long-term commitment to mathematics. Congratulations all! (Photo, from left to right: Danielle Folland, Madigan Collver, Elizabeth Kraus, Jackson Dry, and Nele Vetter.)

03/11/2025

Congratulations to Ashley Delvento, '20, and Michael Makutonin, '20, on their recent wedding! Ashley is a Senior Quality Assurance Engineer at Audible and Michael is an Emergency Medicine Resident at Yale University. Best wishes from your fellow math enthusiasts for a wonderful life together!

02/13/2025

Here's a fun project from our last Math Club meeting: six bottles and six chopsticks in a surprising arrangement. The bowl of candy was for reference and is not load-bearing. The chopsticks were able to support a complex variables text with the entire text interior to the bottles.

Address

3261 W State Road
St. Bonaventure, NY
14778

Telephone

+17163752476

Website

http://www.sbu.edu/math

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