Mathematics

Mathematics Seminar; SENIOR THESIS PRESENTATIONS I

4:30 PM – Caroline Trowbridge

Partial Differential Equations of Pollutant Transport: The Weak Formulation

5:00   PM – Luis Echeverria

The Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem in Proving Equilibrium for Game Theory

 5:30 PM – Will Clewley

Properties and Applications of Continued Fractions

All Are Welcome!

Mathematics Seminar: SENIOR THESIS PRESENTATIONS I

3:00 PM - Andrew Bridgers

Ed isn’t so bad after all

3:30   PM - Noel Antonisse

Construction and Solvability: The Power and Beauty of Fields

 4:00 PM - Nimrod Saleh

Benford’s Leading Digit Law: from Statistical Curiosity to Proof

 4:30 PM - Kyra Gray

An Exploration of the Poisson Approximation

 All Are Welcome!

Professors Albert Y. Kim will discuss research with Professor David Allen on a statistical model of a tree’s growth as a function of current size and the competition it feels.
Prof. Allen conducted censuses in a Michigan reserve, recording the location, species, and size of all trees in both 2008 and 2014. They seek a statistical model that incorporates notions of the numbers, the sizes, the spatial density, and the species of the competitor trees

The Mathematics Departments presents Duncan Levear, ‘15 (Brandeis University) who will discuss “The Geometry of Numbers”.

Daniel Velleman (Amherst College) is our speaker. The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra says that for every nonconstant polynomial p there is a complex number z such that p(z) = 0.  In this talk he will present a method of visualizing functions on the complex plane, and use this method to illustrate why the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra is true.  He will also discuss the history of the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra and its proofs.

The Department of Mathematics invites everyone to meet our faculty members and hear favorite short self-contained gems of elegant argument. Some highlights include: Why does the harmonic series converge? Why isn’t the square root of two a rational number? How did President Garfield prove the Pythagorean Theorem? Everyone is welcome. Pizza lunch will be available at 12:15.

Professor Gareth Roberts (College of the Holy Cross) discusses how the connections between mathematics and music are numerous, deep, and fun to investigate. Early educational traditions (e.g., Plato and Boethius) grouped music with arithmetic and geometry. A “music first” approach will reveal hidden connections, encouraging a greater appreciation and desire for mathematical thinking. For example, many composers use transpositions, retrogrades, and inversions in their compositions to develop a short theme or motif into a longer, more intricate section of music.

Lauren Vollmer.’10 of the Mathematica Policy Research group will give a presentation in the STEM Alumni series on mathematical applications to public policy and discuss career opportunities in the field.

Tom Perera, one of the world’s leading experts on cipher machines, will present a talk on “The Real Story of ‘The Imitation Game’ and the Enigma of Alan Turing”. Dr. Perera is an emeritus professor of psychology at Columbia, Barnard and Montclair. The author of the book “Inside ENIGMA:The Secrets of the Enigma and other Historic Cipher Machines,” Dr. Perera is the founder of the Enigma Museum. He has been collecting, restoring, and preserving antique scientific cipher and telegraph instruments for more than six decades.

Kelsey will discuss Cayley Digraphs. Could you pass through every vertex in this graph exactly once? Could you then return to the starting point? Cayley digraphs are a fun way to visualize groups, and Hamiltonian paths and circuits are ways to navigate these digraphs. In this talk I will examine some Cayley digraphs and a few proofs on the existence on Hamiltonian paths and circuits.