Author: twilson

This week on Wednesday at 5:30 in LGRT1634, Prof. Turkington will speak; his talk is titled “Predicting the record times in rowing” (abstract below). As always, we’ll be providing pizza and soda. This talk was chosen especially to focus on basic modeling and applied math, so if you think you might be interested in those topics, please come!

Abstract:
How much faster is a 4-man boat than a 2-man
boat in Olympic rowing? Is there a mathematical
model that predicts the record times for single, 2-man,
4-man and 8-man rowing sculls? In this talk I will
show how to explain the data with a very simple model,
mostly based on scaling and dimensional analysis.
If there is time, I will mention some other problems
that can be handled in a similar way.

Join us this week for a talk by Anna Kazanova on “The Math Behind Sudoku” (abstract below) on Wed, 4/3, in LGRT 1634 from 5:30-6:30. As always, we’ll have free pizza and soda.

Abstract: To solve Sudoku, one needs to use a combination of logic and trial-and-error, but there is more math involved behind the scene. There are lots of different possible valid Sudoku grids, and by lots I mean 6,670,903,752,021,072,936,960. We will talk about how to come up with this number. We will also learn how to construct a Sudoku that has a unique solution. If time permits, we will describe some variations of Sudoku.

This week we will have Prof. Kusner speaking on “Geometric Knots and Links” (abstract below). Join us on Wednesday at 5:30 in LGRT 1634 for some great math and pizza.

Abstract: How much “rope” is needed to tie a knot? Are there “Gordian”
unknots or unlinks made of “rope” whose geometry is “stuck” in a
complicated configuration, even though they are topological trivial? We’ll
discuss these and related questions about geometric knots and links,
indicating how the topology of the knot and link becomes an interesting
constraint for the “ropelength” minimization problem.

The Undergraduate Math Seminar will meet at its usual time and place. This week, Steve Oloo will speak on: “The Euler Characteristic. What is it good for?” (abstract below). As usual, free
pizza and soda will be provided.

Abstract:

I will remind you of the definition of the Euler characteristic
of a polyhedron and Euler’s famous formula concerning convex polyhedra. We
will then proceed to ask ourselves (and hopefully answer) all manner of
interesting questions like: For what spaces can we define an Euler
characteristic? Is the Euler characteristic a topological invariant? Is it
any good as a topological invariant? What is a topological space anyway?
Wait, why are we talking about graphs now? And, most importantly, how many
pentagons and hexagons do you need to make a soccer ball?

This week, Kostis Gourgoulias will be giving a talk entitled “Solving optimization problems.. with ants?” (abstract below) on Wednesday, Feb. 20th from 5:30-6:30 in 1634. As always, pizza and soda will be provided.

Abstract:
To paraphrase a motto from Numb3rs, ”we all solve optimization problems every day”. From the moment we wake up to the moment we return to bed, we seek to waste as less money and time as possible. And if we happen to be mathematicians, we may also have to solve a couple of optimization problems in math as well. So important is optimization, that one can spend her/his entire
life studying the di?erent methods and then (try to) apply them to di?erent, often extremely hard, problems. E?cient solutions of those problems are worth a lot for both the academic community and the industry. But which method to use? That’s also di?cult to answer because there are as many methods as available problems.

So, what do ants have to do with anything? In 1991, Marco Dorigo introduced a new algorithm for solving combinatorial optimization problems (think travelling salesman) based on the behaviour of ants scavenging for food. Apart from being a very cool idea on it’s own, it also helped open up a new branch between mathematics and algorithms, that of swarm intelligence. There are many questions that still have not been answered about how much one can do
with those ideas.

In this talk, we will talk a bit about optimization in general, see what is the idea & the math that Dorigo ”stumbled” onto how it can be turned into an algorithm and what does the algorithm actually do when it runs. What better way to pass the afternoon?

This Wednesday from 5:30-6:30 in LGRT1634, Jeff Hatley will give a talk, entitled “The Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture”. The abstract appears below. As always, pizza and soda will be provided.

The Clay Mathematics Institute offers a $1 million prize for the solution
to each of a handful of math problems. This week’s talk will explain one of
them, the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture, which relates the number of
solutions to certain equations, called elliptic curves, to the roots of
certain power series, called L-functions. This talk is for a general
audience.

The Undergraduate Math Seminar is restarting for the spring semester! We have a great schedule of talks planned, starting this week with Nico Aiello, who will speak on “An Introduction to Secret Keeping and RSA Encryption” (the abstract appears below)

We will meet in LGRT 1634 at 5:30. As always, pizza and soda will be provided.

Abstract: If you’ve got secrets, come learn how to protect them. Be
it trying to ensure the security of a nation, avoid identity theft, or
just keep a diary private, the need for secret keeping is a huge
concern in today’s world. After covering some background material on
modular arithmetic and the Euler phi-function, we will learn the
mathematics behind the RSA encryption method. The talk will be very
interactive – everyone will have a chance to encrypt a word or phrase
(or secret) of their own – and accessible to all. To help with some of
the computation it would be helpful for those who attend to have a
computer or graphing calculator, though it is not necessary.

Please join us for the last talk of the semester for the
Undergraduate Math Seminar on Wednesday, 5:30-6:30 in LGRT 1634. This week,
Matthew Brown will speak on “The Generalized Chaos Game and its Application
to Genetics.” As always, pizza and soda will be provided.

                                                                                                                                                                             Undergraduate Math Seminar will meet on
Wednesday, 5:30-6:30 in LGRT 1634. This week, Derek Mobilio will speak
on “Meteorology
and Mathematics: A Match Made in the Upper Atmosphere” (abstract below). As
always, pizza and soda will be provided.

Abstract:

Meteorologists are well-known as TV personalities with some skill in
forecasting the conditions of our atmosphere. But did you know that
meteorologists are also top notch mathematicians? Every bit of information
you see in a weather forecast relies heavily on mathematics—from the
governing differential equations of air flow to the numerical models from
which temperature and precipitation are forecasted. This talk will just
scratch the surface of the unique marriage between mathematics and
atmospheric science. Using algebra and calculus, we will (1) derive the
hypsometric equation from the equation of state, (2) develop a prognostic
equation for a local temperature the total derivative of temperature
change, (3) discuss the concept of atmospheric instability, and (4)
investigate a multiple linear regression model to predict northeast
seasonal snowfall for this coming winter. General questions about
meteorology education and the science of our atmosphere will be welcome at
the conclusion of the program.