The Math Circle Club at Oak Park High School offers students a community interested in exploring mathematical ideas above and beyond the standard high school classroom curriculum. It’s not about memorizing formulas or cramming for tests, but rather solving unique, uncommon and complex problems.

“Math circle is about exploring interesting sides of math more obscure than you would normally see in a classroom,” club member Liam Hanrahan said. “We’ve looked at topology, blackbird math and puzzles where digits are substituted for letters.”

The Math Circle is all about the exploration and art of critical thinking over abstract ideas in mathematics. The problems that are discussed in a Math Circle span from sophisticated theories in number theory and geometry to simple yet thought-provoking puzzles, and the aim is to foster a love of learning and intellectual curiosity.

“I started the club because I wanted peers to discuss math within a more relaxed environment where we could explore more specific noncurricular concepts,” founder and president Richard Xun said. “We had our first meeting in June 2023 and plan to have many more in the coming months.”

Math Circle does not require you to have taken advanced math classes prior to club meets. President Xun prides his club on being open to people at all levels of math.

“We start all topic explorations from pretty much scratch, requiring only basic algebra and comprehension skills,” Xun said.

Meetings are held twice a month typically in the Oak Park library, off-campus at people’s houses, and virtually. For more information about club meetings, you can contact President Xun at [email protected].

“My favorite part about the club is the people,” Xun said. “The whole experience is made whole by the wonderful peers who are there to discuss with each other. Everyone is great to have and it is genuinely really fun.”