Schedule update for final practices

Hi everyone, 

If you're participating in ARML Local on Saturday, you should have received information about the contest from ARML already, and we'll be in touch in the coming days to further coordinate to make sure contest day runs as smoothly as possible. As a reminder, ARML Local is scheduled for Saturday May 30, 1pm-4pm Pacific time. 

I've just posted an updated schedule for our final practices and team meetings at the practice website. Here are some highlights:

On Sunday, May 31, we'll have a practice / math activities at our usual time of 5pm-7pm Pacific time. The menu so far features a FARML Math Jam and some fun mathy activities... we're currently thinking we'll have a Kahoot session and an Integration Bee. Please let us know if you have any suggestions or if you want to help lead an activity. We had previously advertised a final team meeting on this day, but we then realized that it didn't make much sense to have a final team meeting before ARML Local results were released (it'll take a few days for ARML to tabulate results from around the country and various international organizations). So we'll take this time to do some fun math instead! :)

The following weekend, we won't have anything on Saturday June 6 (good luck to those of you participating in AOIME). On Sunday June 7, we'll have a season wrapup practice and celebration, with more math-themed activities, presentation of ARML Local results, a final team meeting, and some games! Save the date, and join us to wrap up this memorable ARML season.

Best,

Moor

ARML Local Slack and T-Shirts

Dear amazing ARML Local contestants,

Later this afternoon before practice today, I will be creating a Slack workspace for ARML Local.  Please make sure to join the Slack workspace before practice today.  Feel free to use other forms of communication among your relay teams, but Slack worked well during FARML and will be your go-to form of communication at ARML Local if you don't have anything else set up.

I do not have email addresses for the following students.  They will not be able to join ARML Local unless we have a valid email address for them:

• [redacted]

Please send us your email addresses by 5 PM today; otherwise, we will not register you for ARML Local.

Moreover, if you are not currently signed up for ARML Local and would like to join, please email me by 5 PM today.  I will do my best to accommodate last-minute signups.

Lastly, remember to order your ARML 2020 t-shirts!  If you want a team t-shirt this year, you can get one at this link: https://www.customink.com/fundraising/arml2020.  You can select either a red or pink shirt (in a variety of sizes) or a mask.  The deadline for shirt orders is Monday afternoon (May 25).  The shirts are listed as a fundraiser on CustomInk because that was the easiest way for us to get them mailed directly to your homes, not because we're actually trying to run a fundraiser. :) 

All the best,

Freya Edholm (she/her/hers)

Intern, mathleague.org

ARML Local final list, and checking contact info

Dear all,

At the bottom of this message is the list of everyone we have signed up for ARML Local next Saturday, both students and parent proctors.  I need to make sure that we have the correct list of names, and a working email address for each person.

Here is what you need to do:

• Check the appropriate list below (proctors or students) and make sure you're on it if you expect to be.  If you are not on that list, I need to know by the end of the day today, or you won't be able to participate in ARML Local.
• Check your email.  You should have received (or should soon receive) a message from me with the subject line "Checking student contact info for ARML Local".  If you did not, please reply with a valid email address where we can reach you.
• Proctors only: You should instead have an email with the subject line "Checking proctor contact info for ARML Local".  Again, if you appear on the proctor list below and don't have that email, please reply with your correct email address.

I need any corrections by the end of the day today.  We will register teams for ARML Local tomorrow morning, and after that no changes will be possible.

--Silas

List of parent proctors:

[redacted]

List of students participating:

[redacted]

ARML Local elite teams and teammates; t-shirt orders!

Hi everyone, 

The coaches have selected elite teams for this year's ARML Local contest (to be held on May 30 starting at 1pm Pacific time). The list of elite teams are at the end of this email. 

If you are not on an elite team, you have a brief opportunity to nominate a single teammate to be on your team. In order to do so, you can fill out our teammate preference form. Valid teammate requests much be mutual - both people have to fill out the form, and request the other person. We will do our best to fulfill valid requests of teammate pairs. For highest chances of success, I recommend submitting someone from the same region (i.e. both people in the pair from Northern California / SFBA, or both from Wild Wild West, or both from "Friends"). The deadline to do so is the end of day TODAY (Wednesday, May 20). We will then assemble a full team roster for all of our teams.

If you have not yet signed up for ARML Local, you have one final opportunity to do so at our ARML Local sign-up sheet. We are required to register our team rosters later this week. Also, we need around 15 more proctors. Parents, if you are able to proctor during ARML Local, we'd appreciate your help... please also fill out the sign-up sheet and list yourself as a proctor.

We will have practices this weekend at the usual times: Saturday and Sunday, 5pm-7pm Pacific time. The Saturday practice will be an ARML Local practice with your assigned teams. If you can only make one practice this weekend, please come on Saturday. The Sunday practice will feature a mix of other activities, including another Estimathon.

Finally, we're now ready for t-shirt orders! If you want a team t-shirt this year, you can get one at this link: https://www.customink.com/fundraising/arml2020. You can select either a red or pink shirt (in a variety of sizes) or a mask. The deadline for shirt orders is the afternoon of Monday May 25. The shirts are listed as a fundraiser on CustomInk because that was the easiest way for us to get them mailed directly to your homes, not because we're actually trying to run a fundraiser. :)

Best,

Moor

===========================

List of elite teams:

SFBA

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

Sacramento

[redacted]

Wild Wild West

[redacted] 

ARML Local 2020 Signups

Dear all,

Below is the list of students who are currently signed up for ARML Local.  If your name is not on this list and you would like to attend ARML Local, please fill the following form out ASAP:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf05QmLzte_Xr_nEPQF6IBkcybEmR9O2zr9HtaClufGWKFPEg/viewform

Also, we are in desperate need of proctors, so if you are a parent and able to proctor, please fill out the above form as well.  Thanks in advance!

Expect an email midday tomorrow with elite teams and a form to request a teammate if you are not on an elite team.  You will have less than 24 hours to fill out that form once you receive it.

All the best,

Freya Edholm (she/her/hers)

Intern, mathleague.org

——————————————————

[redacted]

Practice update for today; ARML Local sign-up reminder

Hi everyone,

We'll have practice again today (Sunday May 17), 5pm-7pm Pacific time. As usual, I'll send the Zoom link to this list 10 minutes before the start of practice.

During the first hour (5pm-6pm Pacific), we'll have individual problems. This will also constitute a tryout for ARML Local. We'll also have a guts round scimmage and a beginner's room at practice today.

If you have questions about ARML Local or about tryouts, please see the email blog for my previous email. As a reminder, if you want to participate in ARML Local on May 30, please let us know by the end of day today on our ARML Local sign-up sheet. Parents, we also need a lot more proctors; if you're available to help on May 30, please also fill out the sign-up sheet and select the "Proctor" option.

One more thing: song contest submissions are due at the end of day on Monday (send a submission to arml@mathleague.org if you'd like to participate).

Best,

Moor

Re: [2020 ARML] - FARML; this weekend's practice; ARML Local teams; Song Contest

Correction: The ARML Local sign-up sheet is here: https://forms.gle/UnM6FJEpbGS4LAFC6 

Please use this link, NOT the FARML link I sent out in the previous email. Sorry!

On Thu, May 14, 2020 at 1:16 AM Moor Xu <moorxu@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi everyone, 

We're deep into ARML season now, and there's a whole bunch of things going on over the next few weeks. Let's get to it!

FARML

FARML will be this Saturday, and details are available at the FARML website. If you requested to be placed onto a FARML team, we have done so, and you'll be registered for the competition this weekend. If you can no longer make it, please let us know ahead of time so we can replace you, so that your team isn't left short-handed. If you did not request to be placed on a team but want to participate, please let us know as soon as possible... we may be able to accommodate additional participants on our teams.

For those of you signed up for FARML, I expect that the FARML organizing committee will communicate any logistical information directly to you, as needed. We will provide your email addresses to the FARML organizing committee for that purpose. As a result of FARML, we will NOT have practice this Saturday. Good luck at the competition!

This weekend's practice

We will not have practice on Saturday. We will have practice at our usual time on Sunday: 5pm-7pm Pacific time, and as usual, I will send out a Zoom link 10 minutes before the start of practice. I will update the practice website with details about the Sunday practice as they becomes available.

Either during or adjacent to our practice on Sunday, we plan to hold an additional tryout opportunity for ARML Local.

ARML Local teams

We will participate in ARML Local on the afternoon of Saturday May 30, and we'll need to go through another opt-in and team formation process for this new competition. 

Students: In order to compete in ARML Local, you MUST fill out the ARML Local sign-up sheet. Please do this by end of day on Sunday May 17. You must do this even if you've filled out one of our many other forms, or were on an elite team for FARML. It is essential that we know who can commit to being available on the day of ARML Local. We will then select elite teams based on who has filled out the sign up sheet. Afterward, we'll send around another teammate preference survey. For ARML Local, we will NOT ask for you to list everyone you want on your team. Instead, we will ask you to submit only one teammate. If the request is mutual, we'll put you on the same team. Beyond those preferences, the coaches will have discretion to form teams (and will do so mostly geographically).

Parents: We will need to provide a large number of proctors during ARML Local. If you're available to volunteer to be a proctor, please also fill out the ARML Local sign-up sheet to let us know (select the Proctor option).

We are offering an additional tryout opportunity for elite team selection for ARML Local this weekend, either during or adjacent to practice on Sunday. While we encourage everyone to attend as many tryouts as possible, you are required to attend at least one practice to be eligible for elite team selection. If this requirement is a problem, please let us know.

Note for students from outside of the Bay Area, Northern California, or what we've traditionally called "Wild Wild West" (AZ, ID, MT, NE, parts of NV, NM, ND, SD, WY): If your home region has an ARML Local team, you should compete with that team for the official competition; if your home region does not have an ARML Local team, please sign up using the form above, and we will include you on our teams if allowed by ARML rules.

Song Contest and logistics

• We have extended the song contest deadline to the end of day on Monday May 18. If you wish to participate, please send a submission to arml@mathleague.org. There are no other rules for the Song Contest at this time -- we want to see what you produce! Based on the submissions that we receive, we will decide whether to proceed with a song contest or instead have a song showcase -- let me know if you have a preference.
• The practice website continues to be updated regularly. Practice materials can be opened using username = sfba and password = arml.
• Past emails can be found at the email blog,
• Know someone who might want to participate in ARML Local and/or come to practice? They should sign up for the email list or email us directly.

Again, good luck to those of you competing in FARML this weekend, and I hope to see many of you on Sunday!

Best,

Moor

_______________________________________________
arml-announce mailing list
arml-announce@lists.stanford.edu
https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/arml-announce

FARML; this weekend's practice; ARML Local teams; Song Contest

Hi everyone, 

We're deep into ARML season now, and there's a whole bunch of things going on over the next few weeks. Let's get to it!

FARML

FARML will be this Saturday, and details are available at the FARML website. If you requested to be placed onto a FARML team, we have done so, and you'll be registered for the competition this weekend. If you can no longer make it, please let us know ahead of time so we can replace you, so that your team isn't left short-handed. If you did not request to be placed on a team but want to participate, please let us know as soon as possible... we may be able to accommodate additional participants on our teams.

For those of you signed up for FARML, I expect that the FARML organizing committee will communicate any logistical information directly to you, as needed. We will provide your email addresses to the FARML organizing committee for that purpose. As a result of FARML, we will NOT have practice this Saturday. Good luck at the competition!

This weekend's practice

We will not have practice on Saturday. We will have practice at our usual time on Sunday: 5pm-7pm Pacific time, and as usual, I will send out a Zoom link 10 minutes before the start of practice. I will update the practice website with details about the Sunday practice as they becomes available.

Either during or adjacent to our practice on Sunday, we plan to hold an additional tryout opportunity for ARML Local.

ARML Local teams

We will participate in ARML Local on the afternoon of Saturday May 30, and we'll need to go through another opt-in and team formation process for this new competition. 

Students: In order to compete in ARML Local, you MUST fill out the ARML Local sign-up sheet. Please do this by end of day on Sunday May 17. You must do this even if you've filled out one of our many other forms, or were on an elite team for FARML. It is essential that we know who can commit to being available on the day of ARML Local. We will then select elite teams based on who has filled out the sign up sheet. Afterward, we'll send around another teammate preference survey. For ARML Local, we will NOT ask for you to list everyone you want on your team. Instead, we will ask you to submit only one teammate. If the request is mutual, we'll put you on the same team. Beyond those preferences, the coaches will have discretion to form teams (and will do so mostly geographically).

Parents: We will need to provide a large number of proctors during ARML Local. If you're available to volunteer to be a proctor, please also fill out the ARML Local sign-up sheet to let us know (select the Proctor option).

We are offering an additional tryout opportunity for elite team selection for ARML Local this weekend, either during or adjacent to practice on Sunday. While we encourage everyone to attend as many tryouts as possible, you are required to attend at least one practice to be eligible for elite team selection. If this requirement is a problem, please let us know.

Note for students from outside of the Bay Area, Northern California, or what we've traditionally called "Wild Wild West" (AZ, ID, MT, NE, parts of NV, NM, ND, SD, WY): If your home region has an ARML Local team, you should compete with that team for the official competition; if your home region does not have an ARML Local team, please sign up using the form above, and we will include you on our teams if allowed by ARML rules.

Song Contest and logistics

• We have extended the song contest deadline to the end of day on Monday May 18. If you wish to participate, please send a submission to arml@mathleague.org. There are no other rules for the Song Contest at this time -- we want to see what you produce! Based on the submissions that we receive, we will decide whether to proceed with a song contest or instead have a song showcase -- let me know if you have a preference.
• The practice website continues to be updated regularly. Practice materials can be opened using username = sfba and password = arml.
• Past emails can be found at the email blog,
• Know someone who might want to participate in ARML Local and/or come to practice? They should sign up for the email list or email us directly.

Again, good luck to those of you competing in FARML this weekend, and I hope to see many of you on Sunday!

Best,

Moor

FARML team Slack workspaces

Dear fearless FARMLers,

I have created a Slack workspace for each FARML team.  I have invited all FARML students as well as their coaches to their team's FARML Slack workspace.  If you haven't already, please join the Slack workspace and rename yourself to your real name (first and last), and (if possible) DM me the members of your relay team.

These are the main reasons we are using Slack:

1. Zoom does not allow users to send DMs to more than one other user.  Since relay teams have 3 members, we need another platform that allows group messaging.
2. We need a standardized method of communication among each team.  Many students met their FARML teammates for the first time on Saturday.  As a result, we cannot let students find ways to communicate with each other on their own.
3. Other messaging platforms like Hangouts, text, or Messenger support group texts, but each group with different members ends up being a separate conversation.  We would like to have all group messages from each FARML team in the same place, which Slack allows.
4. It's easy to add and remove members from Slack workspaces, in case we need to do last-minute updates to our teams' rosters.
5. To join Slack, all you need to do is click on the invite link (and maybe type in your email address); you don't even need to set a password until after you've joined.  So making an account to join the server only takes one click :)
   

Lastly, our database is missing email addresses for the following students, so they could not be added to their team's Slack workspace.  If any of you know their email addresses, please let us know so we can add them to their workspaces.  The highlight color of students' names is the color of the team they are on.

[redacted]

All the best,

Freya Edholm (she/her/hers)

Intern, mathleague.org

Preview: Practice today (Sunday May 10)

Hi everyone, 

Just wanted to send along a quick update the activities that we'll have at practice today. As usual, practice will be 5pm-7pm Pacific time, and the practice schedule is at the practice website. I'll be in touch again at 4:50pm Pacific time with a link to today's Zoom meeting. 

During the first hour, we'll have

• Simon speaking about some of his favorite factoring tricks
• Advanced Power Question seminar with Tim
• Beginner's Room with some relay and team questions

During the second hour, we'll have 

• Beginner's Power Question seminar with Tim
• Estimathon with Silas

For those of you planning to participate in the Estimathon today, we have just posted the Estimathon Rules (click the link), and I encourage you to read it before practice. To quote from the rules document: "Andy's usual advice at Estimathons is that the team that best understands the scoring computation has the best chance of winning."

To all the mothers out there: Happy Mother's Day! 

Best,

Moor

FARML practice logistics for this weekend

Hello fantastic FARMLers!

As Moor mentioned earlier this week, practices will occur at the usual times this weekend, but tomorrow's practice will be a FARML team practice.  This is your chance to practice with your FARML team before the competition next Saturday, so please do your best to show up.  Sunday's practice will be our usual mix of ARML and non-ARML content, including a session from Simon Rubinstein-Salzedo on factoring tricks (yes, this is the Simon from SFFT).  :)

Below this email is a list of students who are currently signed up to participate in FARML.  If your name is not on this list, and you'd like to participate in the competition, please be sure to fill out the following sign-up form by the end of the day today.  Note that we can no longer guarantee that teammate preferences will be accommodated, but we will do the best we can.  Final team assignments will be sent out tomorrow before practice.

For those of you who joined this email list in the past 24 hours, you can find previous team emails on the email blog.  If you are receiving this email without being subscribed to the list (e.g. it was forwarded to you by a friend), you can subscribe to our mailing list by filling out the ARML application.  Make sure to answer 5 for the last question :)

 

All the best,

Freya Edholm (she/her/hers)

Intern, mathleague.org

———————————————————

These are the students who are currently signed up for FARML:

[redacted]

FARML teams; next weekend's practices; extended t-shirt deadlines

Hi everyone, 

Here's a bunch of information regarding our plans for the next few weeks.

FARML teams

Thanks for everyone who came to tryouts the past few weekends. The coaches have selected three "elite" teams of 15 students to represent the SFBA / Northern California region at FARML on May 16, and those lists are at the end of this email. 

If you were not selected for one of these teams (regardless of whether you attended tryouts), you are also invited to participate in FARML. Please fill out the following sign-up form, which also gives you an opportunity to request teammates! This form is due by the end of day on Thursday, May 7.

https://forms.gle/SBCwGWRanc2EHYYz7 

Note: If you want to participate in FARML, you need to fill out this form even if you opted-in for tryouts on an earlier form. However, if you were selected for an elite team and your name appears at the end of this email, you do not need to fill out the form. If you miss this deadline, we may need to consider you an "alternate" for the competition. We will collate sign-ups and teammate preference information on Friday, and we expect to send out full team rosters for all of our FARML teams (both elite and non-elite) before our next practice. While we cannot promise to fulfill every teammate preference request, we will try our best, and remaining spots will be filled mostly geographically. 

For those of you from outside of SFBA / Northern California (the "Wild Wild West and Friends" contingent of our team this year), we have not yet selected any Wild Wild West teams yet. You also need to fill out the form above and indicate teammate preferences, if any. We also plan to announce WWW teams before our next practice.

Plan for this weekend (May 9 and May 10)

We will have our practices online at the usual times: 5pm-7pm Pacific time on both Saturday and Sunday. However, the two days will not feature the same material this week.

On Saturday, we will have a FARML team practice with your FARML teams (that we will announce over email before practice). This is your chance to practice with your team before the competition on May 16. While some of you might only usually attend on Sundays, we encourage you to also attend on Saturday this week so you can work with your teammates.

On Sunday, we will have a typical set of other activities during the usual practice time. Rumor is that Simon is going to show some cool math! We'll have more details soon, to be announced over email and posted on the practice website.

Plan for FARML (and following weekends)

The FARML competition will be 8:30am-3:00pm Pacific time on Saturday, May 16. A detailed schedule is available at http://mathleague.org/farml2020/. Please note the much earlier time of the competition compared to our usual practices.

We plan to have a Sunday practice on May 17, with a similar set of non-ARML activities as Sunday this weekend.

We have not yet started putting together ARML Local teams. Since FARML requires 15-person teams and ARML Local requires 6-person teams, we will likely need to go through a similar team formation process (select elite teams, accept teammate preferences, then announce full roster) as the current process for FARML. We intend to start this process during the week after FARML, in time for us to have an ARML Local practice on May 23. The ARML Local competition will be on May 30. 

Other housekeeping announcements (and more time to submit shirt designs)

• Practice materials from last weekend's practice are now online at the practice website. Use username=sfba and password=arml to access the files.
• The practice schedule at the practice website is also frequently updated as we plan for each weekend's practice.
• Past emails are available at the email blog.
• If you aren't on the email list yet, please subscribe.
• We have extended the shirt design submission deadline until the end of day today (Wednesday). See my earlier email for details.

Best,

Moor

=======================================

Elite Team Assignments

Note: if your name appears below but you can no longer participate in FARML on May 16, please let us know as soon as possible so your team is not left short-handed.

[redacted]

Practices and tryouts this weekend; other announcements

Hi everyone, 

We will have our usual ARML practices this weekend: 5pm-7pm Pacific time on both Saturday and Sunday, on Zoom. As usual, I will send Zoom links to this email list 10 minutes before each session begins. You can see the practice schedule at the practice website. 

This weekend's practice:

At this weekend's practice, we will two special events on each day: 

• Introduction to Quadratic Forms with Sarah Fujimori
• This session will feature an introduction to the theory of quadratic forms, discussing some key results and examples (such as sum of two squares, Legendre's four square theorem, Bhargava's 290 theorem), and discussing an Euler Circle research project on this subject. It assumes very basic knowledge of linear algebra (i.e., what matrices and vectors are and how to multiply them), and contest-level number theory like modular arithmetic.
• Introduction to Computational Linguistics (and NACLO) with Freya Edholm

If you would like to run a session at a future practice, please get in touch with me!

Tryouts and team selection:

We will also have tryouts for our FARML and ARML Local teams this weekend, on the following schedule:

• Saturday, May 2, 7pm-8pm Pacific time (the hour after practice)
• Sunday, May 3, 4pm-5pm Pacific time (the hour before practice)
  

The two tryouts will feature different content, and you're encouraged to attend both sessions if possible. You're also encouraged to attend regardless of whether you want to opt-in for team selection, as it's a good opportunity to practice some math. These will likely be the final tryouts before FARML.

Please note that you must OPT-IN if you want to be considered for elite teams for this year's competition. If you have not yet done so, please fill out the team selection opt-in form.

We intend to announce team selection decisions early next week for FARML (not ARML Local - that will be a future process). We will then give everyone not selected a short window of opportunity (a day or two) to form their own groupings for teams before we form the remaining teams (likely geographically). Watch out for that process in the middle of next week. For more information about tryouts, FARML, and ARML Local, please see my previous email. We plan to participate in FARML on May 16, which will need to be a longer practice than usual... more information to come next week. 

Shirt designs and other housekeeping:

• Shirt designs are due by end of day on May 4th. If you'd like to submit a design, please see my previous email. 
• Past practice materials are posted on the practice website. Use username=sfba and password=arml to access the files. 
• An archive of past emails is available at the email blog. 
• If you know anyone who might like to attend these weekend practices, please forward this email and encourage them to sign up for our mailing list.

A summer opportunity:

Long-time team member Matthew Hase-Liu reached out to me today. He's at Harvard now, and asked me to pass this message along. Looks like an exciting opportunity!

Some friends and I are putting together an online summer program for high school students, MORPH, where we will match Harvard undergraduate mentors with 1-3 high school students to learn and read in depth about a topic in mathematics (or statistics or computer science). We know many math summer programs have been cancelled and we hope to provide an alternative, including online social activities and a sense of community. The program will be free of charge, and our undergraduate math organization (Harvard Undergraduate Math Association) will subsidize books for admitted students.

 

You can find out more about us at sites.google.com/college.harvard.edu/morph/home. It would be great if you could pass on this opportunity to math circles or anyone who might be interested! Some exposure to proofs is preferable, but we are trying to reach students at all levels of experience.

It's heartening to see our community come together to create new opportunities for students in these challenging times, and I hope to be able to share more opportunities with all of you in future emails.

Looking forward to seeing a lot of you this weekend!

Best,

Moor