…Continue Reading A Mathematical Trip Into Two Worlds and Four Dimensions
Advanced Talk: Interval Exchanges, Polygons and Moduli Spaces
Abstract: In this talk we explain how some fundamental questions about “simple” procedures like exchanging intervals can be solved using more “complicated” procedures like deforming polygons in the space of all polygons. This is an example of a common trend in mathematics and physics, in particular the area of dynamical systems where using more complicated…Continue Reading Advanced Talk: Interval Exchanges, Polygons and Moduli Spaces
Activity: Using Origami to Find Roots
Abstract: In this activity, we’ll begin by exploring a set of foundational origami operations called the Huzita-Justin Axioms (HJA). Next, we’ll construct something called the Beloch square, which applies our concrete understanding of the HJA. Then, we’ll switch gears somewhat abruptly and talk about a geometric method to finding roots to polynomials with real-valued coefficients…Continue Reading Activity: Using Origami to Find Roots
QUEST & GUEST Fall 2020 Speaker Registration Forms
QUEST Event Date & Time: Wednesday, December 2 at 7:30pm EST Speaker Registration Deadline: Friday, November 27 The Math Club welcomes all undergraduates to give a short 5-20 minute talks on a topic they have been thinking about or working with during the semester. Any topic you have either learned from your classes or via…Continue Reading QUEST & GUEST Fall 2020 Speaker Registration Forms
Activity: We’ve Got Your Number
Join us in a collaboration with SciOly for a fun event with prizes!…Continue Reading Activity: We’ve Got Your Number
Guest Talk: Warped Grid Jigsaw Puzzles
I will describe one process for generating grid-based jigsaw puzzles (i.e., partitioning a grid into “random” connected parts of roughly the same size) and then explore an open problem it suggests, which can be described in terms of the geometry or the graph connections. As an introduction to the subject, you can check out this…Continue Reading Guest Talk: Warped Grid Jigsaw Puzzles
Activity: How to make your own hyperbolic surface
Abstract: Hyperbolic geometry is an interesting and important part of modern math. Part of the difficulty in working with it is that we often have little personal experience with it. To get this intuition, we can construct hyperbolic spaces out of paper, with a method popularized by Thurston. Much paper (preferably newspaper), tape, scissors, and…Continue Reading Activity: How to make your own hyperbolic surface
Advanced Talk: Paving The Way with Gauss-Bonnet: An Introduction to Curvature and Topology
Abstract: For any compact surface without boundary, the classical Gauss-Bonnet theorem asserts that the integral of the curvature equals a universal constant times the Euler characteristic. I will sketch several proofs of this theorem, in varying degrees of generality, and will also discuss a generalization that applies to surfaces-with-boundary. After indicating some analogs of this…Continue Reading Advanced Talk: Paving The Way with Gauss-Bonnet: An Introduction to Curvature and Topology
Grad Student Talk: Power Laws, Fractals, and Criticality
Abstract: We will introduce power laws and think about some of the spooky ways in which they appear in statistics and the natural sciences. We will also introduce fractal geometry, and we’ll see that both topics are related to a deep idea in dynamical systems, known as self-organized criticality….Continue Reading Grad Student Talk: Power Laws, Fractals, and Criticality