{"493271":{"#nid":"493271","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Professor Excels in Mathematics and Magic","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe subject of mathematics is most often associated with logic, rules, and reason. Sometimes, though, it\u2019s best served with a side of magic. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EMatt Baker, an award-winning professor in Tech\u2019s School of Mathematics, also happens to be an award-winning magician. Baker recently won his second major honor in the magic world, being named the 2015 Greater Atlanta Magician of the Year by the Atlanta Society of Magicians and Georgia Magic Club. Recipients are chosen by a combined peer vote in both organizations.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EBaker discovered magic around the age of 10 through an older cousin, who gave him his first magic book (Harry Lorayne\u2019s \u003Cem\u003EClose Up Card Magic\u003C\/em\u003E). The interest led to him doing kids\u2019 birthday parties and shows for friends as a teenager, and it remained a hobby.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EAfter earning degrees at the University of Maryland and University of California\u2013Berkeley, Baker was a professor at Harvard University and the University of Georgia before coming to Tech in 2004. When he moved to Atlanta, he began to get involved with the local magic community. He and his wife were expecting their first child around the same time, so he decided to whittle his various hobbies down to just magic. He learned from both the professional magicians and dedicated amateurs in the local magic clubs, as well as from DVDs and books.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cWith so many resources available, I realized I could actually think about becoming good at this,\u201d he said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EBaker enjoys performing close-up and parlor-style magic, and has a special fondness for card tricks, which allow him to combine his passions for magic and mathematics. His academic interests are in number theory, algebraic geometry, and combinatorics, with a particular interest in how these different fields are linked to each other. His expertise sometimes lets him take a different approach to magic than other magicians.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of math in card magic,\u201d he said. \u201cJust like with a recipe, you might be able to follow the recipe and execute it, but you may not know enough about how it works to vary it. With card magic, I know enough to be able to combine principles in new ways and jazz around with existing effects.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EBaker performs mostly original material when he does shows and has published three original tricks in national magic publications, with a fourth to be published later this year. In one original trick, he offers to show the audience the difference between \u201cestimation, memorization, and magic.\u201d A volunteer cuts and shuffles a deck several times and flips some cards over at random. Baker then wows the audience by knowing exactly how many cards are flipped over and exactly which ones \u2014 number and suit \u2014 are not.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EAnd yet, the math behind the trick isn\u2019t always the hard part.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cSome tricks are mathematically interesting but not entertaining,\u201d he said. \u201cEntertainment has to be the priority. You have to find a balance of method and entertainment value.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EBaker performs a few times a month for various groups. He entertains patients at the Shepherd Center through a local chapter of Project Magic, originally founded by David Copperfield. He has performed for campus groups including the Honors Program and the Student Alumni Association\u2019s Dinner Jackets, and he is the faculty sponsor for the Georgia Tech student magic club. He has also done fundraising shows for his children\u2019s schools, and, in 2015, he performed at the Atlanta Science Festival, the Atlanta Science Tavern, a Princeton University freshman seminar on mathematics and magic, and his dad\u2019s 75th birthday. He has a broad range.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EAs a professor, perhaps his most important audience is his own students. He takes teaching seriously \u2014 he has been honored with a University System of Georgia Regents Teaching Excellence Award and, earlier in his career, the Georgia Tech CETL\/BP Junior Faculty Teaching Award \u2014 but not so seriously that he can\u2019t find a place for magic in the classroom. He likes to incorporate tricks into his teaching and surprise students with magic in class.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cI pretty much always have a deck of cards on me,\u201d he said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EHe also brings the magic of mathematics to high school students by teaching a distance learning course on number theory and cryptography. The course, in its second year, was developed to give high school students who have completed Tech\u2019s Distance Calculus sequence a way to continue their math education with Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cSome of these students are only juniors in high school, but they\u2019ve already completed multivariable calculus,\u201d said Baker, who also designed the number theory course. \u201cWe could have done differential equations or something else that would continue the calculus series, but I wanted to do something different to show them that math is more than just calculus.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003EBaker enjoys performing, of course, but he incorporates magic into his lessons with students in mind, striving to make his videos on mathematics as stimulating as those he once used to learn magic.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p5\u0022\u003E\u201cAs professors, it\u2019s good for us to look at how we can be more engaged in the classroom,\u201d he said. \u201cStudents like it. Ideally, the word will get out that Tech is a fun place to be, and maybe I can have something to do with that.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMatt Baker, an award-winning professor in Tech\u2019s School of Mathematics, also happens to be an award-winning magician.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Matt Baker, an award-winning professor in Tech\u2019s School of Mathematics, also happens to be an award-winning magician."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2016-02-01 11:26:50","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:20:31","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-02-01T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2016-02-01T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"493251":{"id":"493251","type":"image","title":"Matt Baker","body":null,"created":"1454432400","gmt_created":"2016-02-02 17:00:00","changed":"1475895251","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:11","alt":"Matt Baker","file":{"fid":"204509","name":"mattbaker.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mattbaker_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mattbaker_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":960792,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/mattbaker_0.jpg?itok=r0QQvvIS"}}},"media_ids":["493251"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.math.gatech.edu\/users\/mbaker","title":"Matt Baker"},{"url":"http:\/\/math.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Mathematics"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1506","name":"faculty"},{"id":"8867","name":"magic"},{"id":"2748","name":"mathematics"},{"id":"170129","name":"matt baker"},{"id":"3918","name":"profile"},{"id":"168854","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"4152","name":"whistle"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kristen.bailey@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKristen Bailey\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}