Undergraduate Colloquium Fall 2011
Wednesdays at 5:00 p.m.in 4130 McHenry Building
Refreshments served at 4:45 p.m.
For further information please contact Continuing Lecturer Frank Bauerle, bauerle@ucsc.edu.
October 5, 2011
Cal Teach and the Math Major -- with Pizza!
Gretchen Andreasen, Cal Teach Director
Do you have an interest in teaching as a career? If so, come find out how the Cal Teach program can help you explore teaching as a career, while at the same time satisfying some of your degree requirements. Cal Teach offers internships, advising, professional development, and teaching resources for math, science, and engineering majors who are interested in teaching at the middle or high school levels. All aspects of the program will be discussed, as well as how the Cal Teach internships can satisfy math degree requirements or education minor requirements (including the new STEM education minor). We'll have pizza for students who attend.
October 12, 2011
Games Night
Dr. Frank Bauerle Continuing Lecturer, Mathematics Department
Games nights are an informal get-together of people interested in playing and learning about games with depth that will happen occasionally during the year. Each night will feature a new game or a collection of games. Games can be 100% strategic (such as "Hex"), involve chance and probability (such as "The game of Pigs") or require a certain amount of games psychology (such as "For Sale"). The most interesting games usually combine some or all of the above. Some games are two-player games (such as "Quoridor") and some will be multi-player such as ("Ricochet Robots" or "Pit"). We will have fun learning and playing the games but also spend some time discussing the mathematical content of these games. Everybody is invited. Bring a friend! No prior experience or exposure to any of these games is necessary.
October 19, 2011
Some Mathematics, some Physics, and a good dose of Geometry
Professor Richard Montgomery, Mathematics Department, UCSC
I will probably talk about how to get from the 3 body problem to the projective line, the 4 body problem to the projective plane, and some wonderful facts about life on the complex projective line and plane. In different language, I will talk about how to form a ``line's worth'' of quadrilaterals, or a ``circle's worth'' of triangles.
October 26, 2011
Games Night
Dr. Frank Bauerle Continuing Lecturer, Mathematics Department
Games nights are an informal get-together of people interested in playing and learning about games with depth that will happen occasionally during the year. Each night will feature a new game or a collection of games. Games can be 100% strategic (such as "Hex"), involve chance and probability (such as "The game of Pigs") or require a certain amount of games psychology (such as "For Sale"). The most interesting games usually combine some or all of the above. Some games are two-player games (such as "Quoridor") and some will be multi-player such as ("Ricochet Robots" or "Pit"). We will have fun learning and playing the games but also spend some time discussing the mathematical content of these games. Everybody is invited. Bring a friend! No prior experience or exposure to any of these games is necessary.
November 2, 2011
Games Night
Dr. Frank Bauerle Continuing Lecturer, Mathematics Department
Games nights are an informal get-together of people interested in playing and learning about games with depth that will happen occasionally during the year. Each night will feature a new game or a collection of games. Games can be 100% strategic (such as "Hex"), involve chance and probability (such as "The game of Pigs") or require a certain amount of games psychology (such as "For Sale"). The most interesting games usually combine some or all of the above. Some games are two-player games (such as "Quoridor") and some will be multi-player such as ("Ricochet Robots" or "Pit"). We will have fun learning and playing the games but also spend some time discussing the mathematical content of these games. Everybody is invited. Bring a friend! No prior experience or exposure to any of these games is necessary.
November 9, 2011
Programs Abroad Opportunities for Science and Mathematics Majors
Sara Balder, Programs Abroad Advisor, UCSC International Education Office
Ever consider studying abroad? Curious about what this will mean for your studies or your bank balance? At this week's colloquium we will be discussing the opportunities and options for math and other science majors to study abroad. Some recent Education Abroad Program (EAP) participants and the lead Programs Abroad Advisor from the UCSC International Education Office will offer advice on program and course selection. Some Mathematics Department Faculty and graduate students will also share their views and personal experiences.
November 16, 2011
Games Night
Dr. Frank Bauerle Continuing Lecturer, Mathematics Department
Games nights are an informal get-together of people interested in playing and learning about games with depth that will happen occasionally during the year. Each night will feature a new game or a collection of games. Games can be 100% strategic (such as "Hex"), involve chance and probability (such as "The game of Pigs") or require a certain amount of games psychology (such as "For Sale"). The most interesting games usually combine some or all of the above. Some games are two-player games (such as "Quoridor") and some will be multi-player such as ("Ricochet Robots" or "Pit"). We will have fun learning and playing the games but also spend some time discussing the mathematical content of these games. Everybody is invited. Bring a friend! No prior experience or exposure to any of these games is necessary.
November 30, 2011
Rational points on elliptic curves (and a really really difficult way to make $1,000,000)
Professor Samit Dasgupta, UCSC Mathematics Department
The Pythagorean equation x^2 + y^2 = z^2 has a well-known parametrization of its integer solutions. A similar parametrization exists for any homogeneous degree-2 polynomial in three variables, provided that there is some solution. The existence of some solution is governed by Hasse's "local to global principle." The situation is more subtle and interesting when we move from degree-2 equations to cubic equations, which leads to the theory of elliptic curves. First of all, Hasse's local to global principle fails. Next, even if we assume the existence of at least one solution, it is not known in general how to parametrize all the solutions. However, the set of solutions has the beautiful structure of an abelian group, and it is known that this group can be generated by finitely many elements. We will conclude by stating the conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer, which relates the minimal number of elements needed to generate the group to the number of solutions of the equation modulo prime numbers p; this is another sort of "local to global principle."
