Math Club - Fall 2016 Events
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Math Club Holiday Party
12:30–1:30 p.m.
Math Library, Ingersoll Hall
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Actuarial Science
Speaker: Scott Goldstein, Guardian Life
12:30–1:30 p.m.
1141 Ingersoll Hall
Scott Goldstein gave a brief overview of the actuarial profession, talked about the kind of work he does, gave an overview of how retirement products work, and then explained how variable annuities with living benefits work.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Category Theory by Example
Speaker: Noson Yanofsky, Department of Computer and Information Science
12:30–2 p.m.
1127 Ingersoll Hall
Here is the abstract provided by Prof. Yanofsky for his talk: Category theory started as a branch of mathematics that studied various types of structures. Over the past few decades, category theory has arisen in almost every branch of mathematics, theoretical physics, and theoretical computer science. We give the basic definition of a category and discuss the relationships between categories. We then show the ubiquity of category theory by describing ten simple examples of categories from various fields of science. We conclude by showing how category theory is a unifying language of science by describing the relationships between these categories.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Linear Algebra—The Fourth Wave of Mathematics
Speaker: Jeffrey Suzuki, Department of Mathematics
12:30–2 p.m.
1146 Ingersoll Hall
Here is the abstract provided by Prof. Suzuki for his talk: Big ideas in mathematics often lead to fundamental changes in human culture. Thus the invention of written numbers allowed the rise of cities and central government, while calculus played a key role in the scientific and industrial revolution. Some mathematicians believe that over the next 50 years, linear algebra will bring about profound changes in our society. We'll take a look at how some very simple ideas from linear algebra are already beginning to change how we live, work, and play.
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Billiards in Polygons
Speaker: David Aulicino, Department of Mathematics
12:30–1:30 p.m.
1127 Ingersoll Hall
Here is the abstract provided by Prof. Aulicino for his talk: We will begin by considering a square billiard table and ask, "When is a billiard trajectory periodic?" We will give an answer to this question, and explain how this relates to a surface with a "flat geometry." We will generalize this setting to other polygons and investigate some of their properties. We will conclude by stating an unsolved problem about triangles.
Tuesday, September, 27, 2016
Four Proofs of the Infinitude of Primes
Speaker: Alexander Gindes, Department of Mathematics
12:30–1:30 p.m.
1146 Ingersoll Hall
Here is the abstract provided by Prof. Gindes for his talk: We will discuss one of the most beautiful theorems in all of mathematics—the infinitude of primes. We will give four proofs with variations: Euclid's indirect proof, Euler's analytic proof, Furstenberg's topological proof, and Chaitin's complexity proof. These proofs reflect the evolution of techniques in number theory and in mathematical proofs in general.
Executive Board Members
President : Jonathan Hanon
Vice President: Tova Baharlias
Treasurer: Hindy Drillick
Secretary: Chezky Steiner
Club Connector: Eugene Dorokhin
