Undergraduate Colloquium Spring 2010
Thursdays 5:00 pm, Jack Baskin Room #301A
For further information please contact Professor Frank Bauerle, bauerle@ucsc.edu
April 7, 2010
A well-rounded discussion of spheres
Dr. Martin Weissman, Assistant Professor & Vice Chair Undergraduate Programs, Department of Mathematics
Volumes of n-dimensional spheres pop up across all fields of mathematics and physics, and their computation is often dismissed as a messy exercise in calculus, or else disguised by using the Gamma function. I'll discuss the computation of these volumes, using only calculus with polynomials. Towards the end of the talk, I will discuss a surprising connection to the Riemann zeta function and Euler's functional equation. Attendees will receive colorful handouts.
April 14, 2010
Games Night
Dr. Frank Bauerle, Continuing Lecturer, Department of Mathematics
We will be hosting Games Night, where as usual we will be bringing a variety of Games to play. A few examples you may choose from are: Settler's of Catan, Ricochet Robots, Quoridor, and Set. Of course you are also invited to bring your own. Hope to see you there for a little friendly competition!
April 21, 2010
Games Night
Dr. Frank Bauerle, Continuing Lecturer, Department of Mathematics
We will be hosting Games Night, where as usual we will be bringing a variety of Games to play. A few examples you may choose from are: Settler's of Catan, Ricochet Robots, Quoridor, and Set. Of course you are also invited to bring your own. Hope to see you there for a little friendly competition!
April 28, 2010
Movie Night : The Millennium Prize Problems, Part 1
Dr. Frank Bauerle, Continuing Lecturer, Department of Mathematics
You probably don't immediately think of solving a mathematics problem as your ticket to becoming a millionaire. And it sure will not be easy, but it is possible (see below). In the movie "The Millennium Prize Problems" with John Tate as lecturer you will be exposed to three of the most intriguing and interesting open problems in mathematics (Riemann hypothesis, Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, and P vs. NP). In part 2 next week we will be listening to Michael Atiyah explaining the remaining four problems (Poincare conjecture, Hodge conjecture, Yang-Mills theory, and Navier-Stokes equations). As you can see, the original list contained seven problems, but one of them, the Poincare conjecture, has since been solved by Grigory Perelman, a Russian mathematician (See http://www.claymath.org/millennium/ for more details). Perelman was also awarded the Fields medal, Mathematics' highest honor, in recognition of his work. Interestingly, Perelman has not accepted either award.
May 5, 2010
Movie Night : The Millennium Prize Problems, Part 2
Dr. Frank Bauerle, Continuing Lecturer, Department of Mathematics
You probably don't immediately think of solving a mathematics problem as your ticket to becoming a millionaire. And it sure will not be easy, but it is possible (see below). Last week,in the movie "The Millennium Prize Problems" with John Tate as lecturer you were exposed to three of the most intriguing and interesting open problems in mathematics (Riemann hypothesis, Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, and P vs. NP). In part 2 this week we will be listening to Michael Atiyah explaining the remaining four problems (Poincare conjecture, Hodge conjecture, Yang-Mills theory, and Navier-Stokes equations). (Btw., you do not need to have seen part 1 to see part 2.) The original list contained seven problems, but one of them, the Poincare conjecture, has since been solved by Grigory Perelman, a Russian mathematician (See http://www.claymath.org/millennium/ for more details). Perelman was also awarded the Fields medal, Mathematics' highest honor, in recognition of his work. Interestingly, Perelman has not accepted either award.
May 12, 2010
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). Fellow math majors currently participating with the Cal Teach program will also be present to answer your questions. We'll have pizza for students who attend.
May 21, 2010
Chaos, Fractals, Symmetry
Ralph Abraham, Mathematics Dept., UCSC (emeritus)
Ancient theories of visual beauty gave precedence to measures of order, such as canonical proportions. George Birkhoff, the great 20th century American mathematician, introduced complexity as an additional factor. Recently, fractal dimension has been proposed as a measure of complexity, and several experiments with fractal images support this idea. In this talk we will discuss chaotic attractors with symmetry, and show some examples from the history of chaos theory.
May 26, 2010
The Early Development of the Calculus
Michael Nauenberg, Physics Dept., UCSC (emeritus)
The differential and integral calculus is usually attributed to Newton and Leibniz, but several other 17-century mathematicians also made important contributions to its development. In this talk I will show how the fundamental concepts of the calculus were first introduced, and then transformed into its present form.
June 3, 2010
Bubble Show: The Mathematics of Bubbles and Soap Films, a Hands On Look.
Tom Noddy & Tony Tomba
JOIN US FOR THE LAST COLLOQUIUM OF THE 09-10 SCHOOL YEAR. A joint lecture by Tom Noddy and Tony Tromba
