ESP Biography



BENJAMIN COSTA, Junior at Vassar, Future Math Teacher




Major: Mathematics

College/Employer: Vassar College

Year of Graduation: 2019

Picture of Benjamin Costa

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Not Available.



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

M12080: All's Fair In Chess and Cake in Spark 2018 (Mar. 17 - 18, 2018)
Do you always get the smallest piece of cake, or always lose at board games? Then this is the class for you! In this class, we'll be talking about the math and logic behind what it means for something to be 'fair', and trying to find solutions to some fun problems. Topics will include how to cut all different kinds of cakes (there's more than you'd think!), winning strategies in classic board and card games, and a few gambling puzzles. As time permits, we may also do some light discussion of a few more practical applications of this kind of math, including drawing borders, inheritance law, and writing treaties.


M11473: Fun With Paradoxes in HSSP Summer 2017 (Jul. 09, 2017)
How many people do you need in a room before they have a 50% chance of sharing a birthday? Take this class and find out! The class explores a bunch of interesting quirks in math and statistics, including the Monty Hall problem and its variations, Simpson's Paradox, the aforementioned Birthday Paradox, and many other problems. We may also delve into some logic puzzles, depending on time (and student demand). This class is open to all ages or and experience levels, as long as you want to have some fun with math!