Here¹s how we run the show: There are four teams with 4 people on each team. Like college bowl tournaments, there will be a buzzer system that lets you buzz in to answer the question. Toss-up questions will be worth 10 points, bonuses are worth more. Your team gets a crack at a bonus if they answered the toss-up correctly. It's like Team Jeopardy, but with math questions!
Lunch will be provided. Everyone is welcome.
The Individual Barge Exam
Saturday, April 29, from 9am until noon in Pardee Hall, Room 217
This math contest is open to first and second year students. Cash prizes are
available: $500 for first place, $300 for second place, and $200 for third place.
No preregistration is required! Refreshments will be provided.
Contact
Professor Corvino for more information.
Preview Fall Special Topics Courses
Tuesday, April 11, at 12:20 in Pardee Hall, Room 227
Professors Lu, Reiter, and Smith will each speak about their respective courses and
answer students' questions.
Lunch will be provided. Everyone is welcome. Sponsored by the Math Club.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, April 12, at noon in Pardee Hall, Room 217
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Playing With Chips
A talk by
Steve Tedford
Franklin and Marshall College
Suppose a line of alternating red and blue poker chips is on the table in front of you. How many moves will it take to change chips so that the blue chips are all to the left of the red chips? I will attempt to answer this question and show how this problem arose. Additionally, I will introduce some interesting combinatorics. This talk is accessible to any student with an interest in mathematics.
Lunch will be provided. Everyone is welcome.
Thursday, March 2, at 8pm in Oechsle Hall, Room 224
Mathematics in the 21st Century: Problems and Prospects
Ronald Graham
University of California, San Diego
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar
There are a variety of problems from different mathematical areas which are, for the most part, quite easy to state, and yet still continue to resist efforts to solve them. What is the potential impact that computers of the future might have in contributing to the solutions of these challenging problems?
Co-sponsors: Phi Beta Kappa, Mathematics Department, Provost's Office.
Friday, March 3, at noon in Pardee Hall, Room 421
"N Is a Number" and "Working with Paul Erdos"
Ronald Graham
University of California, San Diego
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar
Paul Erdos was the most prolific mathematician of the 20th century. After an abbreviated showing of "N Is a Number", a documentary about Paul Erdos, hear from one of his closest friends about what it was like to work with him.
Lunch will be provided. Co-sponsors: Phi Beta Kappa, Mathematics Department, Provost's Office.
Mathematics Opportunities for Summer 2006
Tuesday, January 31, starting at 12:10 in Pardee Hall, Room 218
Sponsored by the Math Club and the Office of Career Services
Students interested in mathematics have many summer opportunities to consider!
Many of these have application deadlines before the middle of February.
On Tuesday, January 31, Rachel Moeller of Career Services and mathematics
faculty members will help students survey the many experiences available in Summer 2006.
Everyone is welcome to attend, including first-year students!
Light refreshments will be served, or bring your own lunch.
For more information, contact
Professor Smith.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, February 1, at 12:05 in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Hidden Markov Models for Language (and Other Time Series)
A talk by
Ann K. Stehney
Moravian College
Markov chains and hidden Markov models provide a framework for analyzing sequential data such as natural language, digital speech, communications signals, and other time series. We will describe the ideas behind these models, algorithms for exploiting them, theoretical considerations, and an array of applications. Recalling Markov¹s original 2-state analysis of Russian text, our illustrations will be drawn from problems associated with written texts, including unsolved ciphers.
Lunch will be provided. Everyone is welcome.
Mathematics Opportunities for Summer 2006
Wednesday, December 7, starting at 12:10 in Pardee Hall, Room 227
Sponsored by the Math Club and the Office of Career Services
Students interested in mathematics have many summer opportunities to consider!
Some of these have application deadlines as early as the middle of December.
On Wednesday, December 7, Rachel Moeller of Career Services and mathematics
faculty members will help students survey the many experiences available in Summer 2006.
Everyone is welcome to attend! Light refreshments will be served, or bring your own lunch.
For more information, contact
Professor Smith.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, November 30, at 12:05 in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Better Medical Imaging Through Math:
Separating Water from Fat in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
A talk by
Angel Pineda '95
Radiology Department, Stanford University
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) allows us to visualize the interior of our body by carefully controlling a large magnetic field and measuring the magnetic properties of the protons in the tissue. From an MRI perspective tissue can be thought of consisting mostly of water and fat. Most of the diagnostic information is contained by the images of the water component. The signal from the fat can mimic pathology in the water image. Because of this, there is a plethora of techniques to suppress the fat signal before imaging. In this talk, we will show how to propagate the imperfections in the magnet into our estimate of the water images and use this understanding to improve the images of where water and fat meet, like in the imaging of knees. The mathematics and statistics used include linear algebra, Monte Carlo simulations, maximum likelihood estimation and Cramer-Rao bounds for nonlinear inverse problems. Amazingly all this theory was verified in medical images!
Lunch will be provided. Everyone is welcome.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, November 16, at 12:05 in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Option Price Models
A talk by
Qin Lu
Lafayette College
These days people are excited about the application of quantitative methods in finance.
This talk will introduce the Black-Scholes option price model. The talk will focus on numerical methods because analytical methods have limitations. In general, there are three different kinds of numerical methods to price the option, namely the Binomial (Trinomial) tree, the Simulation and the numerical methods related to the Black-Scholes partial differential equations. The speaker will illustrate the tree method and the simulation method with simple and interesting examples. The audience will see real mathematics (undergraduate calculus and probability) applied in real world problems.
Lunch will be provided. Everyone is welcome.
Spring Special Topics Courses Preview
Starting at noon on Monday, October 31, in Pardee 227, Professors Corvino, Root, and
Salwach will preview their special topics courses for Spring 2006. Abstracts for these
courses can be found under
Special topics and
seminars.
Contact Math Club president
Brian Kronenthal for more information.
Lafayette teams take 3 of 4 top spots in recent LVAIC exam
Contact
Professor Gordon for more information.
WITS: What I did This Summer
Mathematics students talk about their recent summer experiences on Monday, September 26, at 12:05 in Pardee 227
This semester, there will be several student presentations as part of the "What I
did This Summer" (WITS) series! The theme for
this Monday is research:
Jordan Tirrell '08 worked with Professor Reiter on a variant of the
perfect cuboid problem,
Kevin Ehly '06 worked with Professor Gordon on a combinatorial approach
to symmetries of the icosahedron via matroids,
and Ibrahima Bah '06 studied string theory in an REU program at the
University of Iowa.
Everyone is welcome! Light refreshments will be served. Pardee 227.
Contact
Professor Smith for more information.
WITS: What I did This Summer
Mathematics students talk about their recent summer experiences on Wednesday, September 21, at 12:05 in Pardee 227
This semester, there will be several student presentations as part of the "What I
did This Summer" (WITS) series! The theme for
this Wednesday is research at Lafayette:
Stacey Altrichter '06 and Ryan McCall '07 worked with Professor Root on a project
related to the question of why vertebrae formed in fish,
and Jenna Bratz '06 worked with Professor McMahon on a study of certain
properties of Cayley graphs.
Everyone is welcome! Light refreshments will be served. Pardee 227.
Contact
Professor Smith for more information.
WITS: What I did This Summer
Mathematics students talk about their recent summer experiences on Wednesday, September 14, at 12:05 in Pardee 227
This semester, there will be several student presentations as part of the "What I
did This Summer" (WITS) series! The theme for
this Friday is research:
Kari Barkley '06 participated in an REU Program at the University of Illinois;
Jacob Carson '06 participated in an REU program at Wabash College; and
Ekaterina Jager '06 participated in the program for Women and Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Everyone is welcome! Light refreshments will be served. Pardee 227.
Contact
Professor Smith for more information.
Jobs, Internships, and Graduate School
On Monday, September 12, starting at 12:10 in Pardee 227, an informal orientation session will be held to discuss many career opportunities for
mathematics students.
Rachel Moeller from Career Services will discuss specific employment opportunities for mathematics students in anticipation of the Lafayette Career Fair, which will be held the following week; and math department faculty members will
outline opportunities for graduate study in mathematics and related fields.
All students are welcome to attend! Light refreshments will be served.
Contact
Professor Smith for more information.
Prepare for the GRE Advanced Math Subject Exam
This fall, from 6:00pm until 7:30pm on Sunday evenings in Pardee 227, join others interested in
mathematics graduate school to prepare for the GRE Math Subject Exam. Sessions begin
on September 18 and run for seven weeks, excluding Fall Break.
Everyone is welcome to attend! For more information
on how to obtain the study guides used for the sessions at a reduced price, contact
Professor Smith.
WITS: What I did This Summer
Mathematics students talk about their recent summer experiences on Friday, September 9, at 12:05 in Pardee 227
This semester, there will be several student presentations as part of the "What I
did This Summer" (WITS) series! The theme for
this Friday is teaching: Cassandra Schettino '06 and Maureen Jackson '06
will talk about their experiences in the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented
Youth program, and Erica Morabito '06 will discuss her work for Sylvan
Learning Centers.
Everyone is welcome! Light refreshments will be served. Pardee 227.
Contact
Professor Smith for more information.
The Lafayette Problem Group
This fall, the Lafayette Problem Group meets on Thursdays at 4:15 in Pardee Hall, Room 227.
Everyone is welcome! Old problems and other information about the group can be found
here. Copies of
problem sets are available online and outside of Pardee 224.
Contact
Professor Smith for more information.
Congratulations to students participating in recent national mathematics competitions!
MCM Team submission is awarded "Meritorious" ranking, and the Putnam Team is in the top 15% for the 4th time in 5 years.
The Mathematical Contest in Modeling, sponsored by COMAP, was held during February 3-7.
Two teams of three students worked around the clock to come up with the best solution they could to a
posted problem.
The team of Farhan Ahmed, Jinjin Qian, and Haotian Wu was designated "Meritorious Winner."
The only category above "Meritorious Winner" is "Outstanding Winner," and there were only 10 teams out of approximately 700 in that category, so this is a significant accomplishment.
Also representing Lafayette was the team of Aydin Gerek, Teruhisa Haruguchi, and Ko Ko Maung.
For the results of the recent Putnam Exam, see the
press release.
For more information about the MCM, contact Professor Berkove;
for the Putnam Exam, contact Professor Smith.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, April 27, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Math Bowl 2005 lwoB htaM
How quickly can you answer questions like:
What is the smallest 4-digit prime number?
Who is the author of the calculus book used in Math 161, 162, and 263?
Which math department professor has a last name that can be rearranged to spell "SETS ON FIRE"?
Come to Math Bowl and watch four teams of four students battle it out for the title of
"Best Group of Four Students Who Can Answer Questions Like These."
Lunch will be provided.
For more information, please contact Professor Gordon.
2005 Individual Barge Mathematics Contest
Saturday, April 30, from 9:30am to Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 201
Cash Prizes! Free Lunch!
No preregistration required.
The Individual Barge Mathematics Contest is open to all first and second year students.
The problems vary in difficulty; most emphasize insight and ingenuity rather than
specific knowledge or computational skill.
Prize amounts: $500 for first, $300 for second, and $200 for third.
Example problem: Find the 2005th digit to the right of the decimal point in
0.102030405060708090100110120130140...
For more information, please contact Professor Lu.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Friday, April 15, at 12:05 in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
How to Always Win at Limbo, or
You can sum some of the series some of the time, and
some of the series none of the time... but can you sum
some of the series ALL of the time?
A talk by
Edward B. Burger
Williams College
Have you ever gone out with someone for a while and asked yourself: "How close are we?" This presentation will answer that question by answering: What does it mean for two things to be close to one another? We'll take a strange look infinite series, dare to mention a calculus student's fantasy, and momentarily consider transcendental meditation. In fact, we'll even attempt to build some very exotic series that can be used if you ever have to flee the country in a hurry: we'll either succeed or fail... you'll have to come to the talk to find out. Will you be at the edge of your seats? Perhaps; but if not, then you'll probably fall asleep and either way, after the talk, you'll feel refreshed. No matter what, you'll learn a sneaky way to always win at Limbo.
This presentation is open to all math fans--young and old alike. A familiarity with infinite series is helpful. If you've ever heard of the words "triangle inequality", then this is the talk for you!
Lunch will be provided. Everyone is welcome.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, April 6, at 12:05 in Pardee Hall, Room 217
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Conguences for Combinatorial Sequences
A talk by
Bruce Sagan
Michigan State University
We derive congruences for various sequences involving binomial
coefficients. In particular, we are able to prove some conjectures of
Benoit Cloitre. Surprisingly, the Thue-Morse sequence (from the
theory of combinatorics on words) makes an appearance.
Lunch will be provided. Everyone is welcome; no mathematical background is assumed.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, March 23, at 12:05 in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Structure of Gene Expression Networks
A talk by
Ashish Bhan '91
Institute of Genomics and Bioinformatics
University of California, Irvine
There has been a great deal of interest in the structure of "small-world" networks like the Internet and the World Wide Web in the last few years. An influential model of network growth based on preferential attachment (the rich get richer) has been proposed to explain their properties. We propose another model of network growth based on gene duplication, and show that it is able to duplicate several properties which are common in real networks and cannot be duplicated using preferential attachment.
Lunch will be provided. Everyone is welcome; no mathematical background is assumed.
Wednesday, March 9, at 12:05 in Pardee Hall, Room 216
A preview of "Advanced Multivariate Calculus" (Math 343)
to be offered in the fall semester
by Professor Justin Corvino
If you like basic multivariable calculus (Math 263) and linear algebra (272 or 275), then Math 343 may be the course for you. Part of the course is devoted to understanding how the derivative of a multivariable/vector-valued function (multiple inputs and multiple outputs) is most naturally thought of as a linear transformation. We will develop the subject known as vector calculus, which will lead us to an important generalization of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus known as Stokes' Theorem (in 2-D this is Green's Theorem from Math 263!). Vector calculus has applications ranging from mathematics to electricity and magnetism and fluid mechanics. Finally, this course serves as the foundation for Differential Geometry, which in turn is the mathematical basis of Einstein's theory of general relativity.
Bring your own lunch!
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, February 9, at 12:05 in Pardee Hall, Room 217
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Dynamics of Nim Induced Difference Equations
A talk by
Michael A. Jones
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Montclair State University
Nim is a well-known two-player combinatorial game in which each player alternates taking turns removing tokens from several piles. I will review Bouton's use of modular arithmetic to provide a complete analysis of a first player's optimal behavior or winning strategy where players can remove any number of tokens from a pile; this result appeared in the 1901-02 issue of The Annals of Mathematics.
A single-pile variant of Nim requires players to remove only a restricted number of tokens (elements of which form the subtraction set) from the pile on their turns. Classifying optimal behavior for any subtraction set is one of the outstanding unsolved problems in combinatorial game theory. I will introduce, and will explore the mathematics that arise from, a dynamical systems approach to this problem where winning and losing positions for player 1 in single pile Nim are defined recursively as a two symbol sequence where the subtraction set is viewed as a parameter set.
Lunch will be provided. Everyone is welcome; no mathematical background is assumed.
Mathematics Opportunities in Summer 2005
Thursday, January 27, starting at 12:10 in Pardee Hall, Room 218
Sponsored by the Math Club and the Office of Career Services
This is the second of two sessions offered for students interested in summer
opportunities in mathematics, some of which have application deadlines as
early as the middle of February.
Rachel Moeller of Career Services will join mathematics
faculty members to help students survey the many experiences available in
Summer 2005.
Everyone is welcome to attend! Light refreshments will be served, or bring your own lunch.
For more information, contact Professor Smith.
The Lafayette Problem Group
This spring, the Problem Group meets on Mondays at 4:15 in Pardee Hall, Room 227.
Everyone is welcome! Old problems and other information about the group can be found
here. Copies of
problem sets are available online and outside of Pardee 224.
Contact
Professor Smith for more information.
The Team Barge competition solutions are due on Fridays
Make a team of three and solve weekly problems! Prizes are given at the end of each
semester: $750 for first place, $600 for second, and $450 for third.
For more information, visit this page
or contact Professor Berkove.
Game "Hour"!
Game Hour is a great way to head into the weekend, a time to learn and play games like chess, bridge, go, backgammon, Scrabble, etc. Everyone is welcome!
Meet Friday afternoons starting around 4:00pm in Pardee Hall, Room 216.
Bring boards and game pieces along if you have them, or show up empty-handed. Refreshments will be served. Sponsored by the Mathematics Club.
Contact Math Club president
Ekaterina Jager for more information.
Two Teams Tie for First Place in Fall Team Barge Competition
Two student teams earned perfect scores to tie as winners of the fall Team Barge competition, splitting the $1,000 and $450 prizes for first and second place, respectively.
Smathi Charanasomboon ¹07, Aydin Gerek ¹07, Teruhisa Haruguchi ¹07, Ko Ko Maung ¹07, and Haotian Wu ¹07 formed one of the winning teams, and Jinjin Qian ¹08, Jacob Carson ¹06,
and Ekaterina Jager ¹06 formed the other. Finishing a close third were first-year students Xue Ji, Mark Kokoska, and Jordan Tirrell.
More information can be found in the
press release.
Contact Professor Berkove
if you think you might be interested in participating this spring!
Math Subject GRE Review Sessions
The GRE Subject Test in Mathematics Review/Prep sessions will be held on Sundays from 11:30 until 12:30 this Fall in Pardee 227.
Please attend if you are interested -- everyone is welcome!.
Contact Professor Zulli for more information.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, December 8, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Mathematics/a Meets the VaST Monster
A talk by
Professor Randy Stonesifer
Lafayette College
The registration process for VaST courses had evolved from survival of the fittest
to survival of the lucky.
Now the Lafayette community has pooled its resources to conquer this evil villain.
Find out how VaST courses are assigned and why this new process has been considered
a success.
Lunch will be provided. Everyone is welcome; no mathematical background is assumed.
Lafayette Teams Dominate Recent LVAIC Math Exam
One Lafayette Team Ties for First Place, and Others Rank Third, Fourth, and Fifth
This year, the annual LVAIC Mathematics Exam took place on Saturday, October 30.
Twelve teams with a total of 43 students from Lafayette, Lehigh, Moravian, Muhlenberg, and DeSales competed.
Tying a five-student Lehigh University team for first place after scoring 91 of a
possible 100 points on the test was the team of Rob McEwen ¹05, Greg Francos ¹05, Ekaterina Jager ¹06,
and Jinjin Qian ¹08.
Finishing in third place with 78 points was the team of Brian Kronenthal ¹07, Varun Mehta ¹06, Ibrahima Bah ¹06, and Farhan Ahmed ¹05;
in fourth was the team of Aydin Gerek ¹07, Haotian Wu ¹07, Teruhisa Haruguchi ¹07, and Thuy Lan Nguyen ¹07; and in fifth was the
team of Jordan Tirrell ¹08, Xue Ji ¹08, and Keming Liang ¹08.
More information can be found in the
press release.
Contact Professor Gordon
if you think you might be interested in taking the exam next year!
The Putnam Mathematics Competition
Saturday, December 4, starting at 9:45am in Pardee Hall, Room 217
Students are invited to the take the Putnam Mathematics Competition on
Saturday, December 4. The
Competition
has both a morning and afternoon session, with breakfast provided starting around
9:15am and a lunch between the two sessions.
Several additional copies of the exam are available for
students who were unable to sign up for the exam earlier in the
semester. Contact Professor Smith
if you think you might be interested in taking one of these.
Mathematics Opportunities in Summer 2005
Wednesday, December 1, starting at 12:10 in Pardee Hall, Room 227
Sponsored by the Math Club and the Office of Career Services
Students interested in mathematics have many summer opportunities to consider!
Some of these have application deadlines as early as the middle of December.
On Wednesday, December 1, Rachel Moeller of Career Services and mathematics
faculty members will help students survey the many experiences available in Summer 2005.
Everyone is welcome to attend! Light refreshments will be served, or bring your own lunch.
For more information, contact Professor Smith.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Friday, November 12, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Of Numbers and Flowers: The Truth about Truth
A talk by
Professor Jonathan David Farley
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"What is truth?"
- John 18:38
The new Gwyneth Paltrow film "Proof" and Russell Crowe's
"A Beautiful Mind" perpetuate certain myths about mathematics.
MYTH #1: Mathematicians are very often insane.
Actually, that's not a myth. But it is a myth that
mathematics is primarily about numbers. In fact, mathematics is the quest
for truth, and the enterprise of mathematics has much more in common
with art and poetry than the ordinary layperson might think.
MYTH #2: In mathematics, everything is either right or wrong.
Indeed, in 1931, a young Austrian mathematician uncovered
a secret about Reality that would revolutionize mathematics... and
unravel his mind...
Prof. Farley is the 2004 recipient of the Harvard Foundation's Distinguished Scientist of the Year Award, a medal presented on behalf of the president of Harvard University in recognition of "outstanding achievements and contributions in the field of mathematics." Dr. Farley obtained his doctorate in mathematics from Oxford University, after winning Oxford's highest mathematics awards, the Senior Mathematical Prize and Johnson Prize. In 2001-2002, he was one of only four Americans to win a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Award to the United Kingdom.
Lunch will be provided. Everyone is welcome; no mathematical background is assumed.
Friday, November 12, at 4:10 in Pardee Hall, Room 217
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department present a Department Colloquium
Linear Extensions of a Ranked Poset, Enumerated by Descents:
A problem of Richard P. Stanley from 1981
Professor Jonathan David Farley
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Here is an abstract (PDF).
LVAIC Math Contest
The 15th Annual LVAIC Math Contest involves teams students from Cedar Crest, DeSales, Moravian,
Muhlenberg, Lafayette, and Lehigh. This year, the contest will take place at Moravian College on Saturday,
October 30, from 10:00am until 12:30pm.
Coffee and goodies will be available from 9:15 until 10:00, and there's a free pizza lunch after the contest.
See this web page for sample test questions.
Contact Professor Gordon for more information.
Professor Corvino, who will be teaching "Partial Differential Equations" next semester, offers a
lunch-time presentation on Friday, October 22, starting at 12:05 in Pardee 227. He says:
"Partial differential equations (PDEs) are used to model physical phenomena like heat flow and diffusion, vibrating membranes, and the propagation of electromagnetic and sound waves. Furthermore, PDEs also arise in geometry, where solutions of certain equations represent interesting geometries, like the geometry of soap films. Some physical theories like general relativity and quantum mechanics rely heavily on PDEs. In this course we will focus on techniques used to understand three fundamental equations (the Laplace-Poisson equation, the heat equation and the wave equation), but these techniques are often useful in the study of other equations as well.
"At this informal session I will introduce some of the topics we will be exploring in Math 312 this spring, as well as try to answer questions you may have about the subject and the course."
Contact Professor Corvino for more information.
Ernst and Young Consultant Position
Lafayette alumna Susan Garille Higgins has been at Ernst and Young for several years and sends information about an
available consultant position for those graduating in 2005. The deadline for applying is October 25.
Description: Ernst & Young's Quantitative Economics and Statistics Group (QUEST) invites applications from qualified new or recent graduates to join our team. QUEST provides quantitative advisory services and products in areas of applied economics and statistics. This includes business research, statistical analyses, surveys, sampling and econometric modeling. Our consulting services include the enhancement of business processes, analysis of legislative and regulatory issues, estimation for tax purposes and litigation support. The learning opportunities provided through a diverse set of projects are complemented by a dynamic work environment and on-the-job training.
Requirements: Successful candidates will have a bachelor's degree in economics, mathematics, statistics and/or other quantitative disciplines. Other qualifications include: excellent analytical and communication skills, both written and oral; coursework in economics, statistics, or related areas; high level of academic performance; computer skills, such as familiarity with statistical programming software and database management; balancing multiple tasks in a team environment and effectively meeting deadlines; and relevant experience through summer employment or research internships.
Contact Susan Higgins for more information.
Is y = x2 a continuous function?
Professor Zulli, who will be teaching "Topology" next semester, offers a
lunch-time presentation on Wednesday, October 20, from 12:05 to 12:45 in Pardee 227.
Abstract: Suppose X and Y are arbitrary sets. A function f: X --> Y is a "rule" that assigns an element f(x) in Y to each element x in X. Topology is the branch of mathematics that allows us to ask and answer the important question: Is f a continuous function?
In this talk I'll discuss what continuity means, and explain why the correct answer to my title question is "It depends."
Contact Professor Zulli for more information.
Actuarial Information Session
This Wednesday, October 20, at 7 PM in Pardee 201, Betsy (Bassett) DePaolo'93 will be presenting an actuarial information session. Betsy is an actuary with St. Paul Travelers. If you are interested in finding out what actuaries do or are interested in actuarial careers, please attend!
Contact Professor Fisher for more information.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, October 6, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
From Poincare to Perelman
A talk by
Professor John Meier
Lafayette College
Here's a question: What's the shape of space? If that one seems too hard, you might tackle: What possible shapes could our universe take? These are grand questions but it appears that they might not be completely intractable. In fact, following on ideas of some famous mathematicians (Bill Thurston and Richard Hamilton), Grisha Perelman has recently announced a solution to the second problem. In addition to glory and honor, if his work holds up under close examination, Perelman will get a million dollars from the Clay Mathematics Institute. I will try to give some idea of the principal mathematical objects under discussion (3-manifolds), some of the historical development of the subject, and perhaps a hint at Perelman's approach.
Lunch will be provided. Everyone is welcome; no mathematical background is assumed.
Sign up for the Putnam by Friday, October 8
The national Putnam Mathematics Competition takes place every December on the first Saturday morning. This year, that date is December 4, ... but the sign up period for the exam is much earlier. If you want to take the exam this year, please sign up on the sheet outside of Pardee 224 or simply email Professor Smith
before Fall Break. Don't miss out on the fun!
Old Putnam exams are available online, as are descriptions of Lafayette's Putnam participation in
2002 and
2003.
WITS: What I did This Summer
Mathematics students talk about their recent summer experiences on Friday, October 1, and Monday, October 4, at Noon in Pardee 227
This semester, there will be several student presentations as part of the "What I
did This Summer" (WITS) series!
This Friday at noon in Pardee 227, we will have three
presenters. EXCEL Scholars Rebecca Anderson and Jonathan Rowe worked with Professor
Lorenzo Traldi on reliability in communication networks, and EXCEL Scholar Jacob Carson
worked with Professor Ethan Berkove on combinatorial problems related to the game
Instant Insanity.
On Monday, October 4, the presenters will be Maureen Jackson, who was a teaching
assistant in the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) program, and
Blerta Shtylla, who participated in the Program for Women in Mathematics at the
Institute for Advanced Study/Princeton University in May and then held a summer
fellowship from the Mayo Clinic to study in the bioengineering department and the
Mayo Graduate School. For more information, click
here.
Bring your own lunch and/or enjoy some light refreshments, courtesy of the Math Club.
Contact
Professor Smith for more information.
WITS: What I did This Summer
Mathematics students talk about their recent summer experiences on Friday, September 22, at Noon in Pardee 227
This semester, there will be several student presentations as part of the "What I
did This Summer" (WITS) series! This Friday at noon in Pardee 227, we will have two
presenters. EXCEL Scholar Prince Chidyagwai worked on quasicrystal growth with
Professor Cliff Reiter at Lafayette, and Rob McEwen participated in the Director's
Summer Program at a Not-as-yet Specified Agency in the US Department of Defense
in the Baltimore/Washington DC area.
Bring your own lunch and/or enjoy some light refreshments, courtesy of the Math Club.
For more information on the student presenters, see
this article.
Contact
Professor Smith for more information.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, September 22, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Steiner's Triples, Kirkman's Schoolgirls, and Designs in General
A talk by
Professor Chester Salwach
Lafayette College
Kirkman's schoolgirl problem was introduced by the Reverend Thomas J. Kirkman as "Query 6" on page 48 of the Lady's and Gentleman's Diary (1850): "A teacher would like to take 15 schoolgirls out for a walk, the girls being arranged in 5 rows of three. The teacher would like to ensure equal chances of friendship between any two girls. Hence it is desirable to find different row arrangements for the 7 days of the week such that any pair of girls walk in the same row exactly one day of the week." Can one hope to arrange such friendly relations?
Lunch will be provided. Everyone is welcome; no mathematical background is assumed.
The Career Fair at Lafayette
takes place on Wednesday, September 22, from 4:30pm until 8:00pm.
Approximately 50 employers are expected to participate this year from the private, non-profit and public service sectors. New additions this year include: Accenture, Action Without Borders/Idealist.org, Commerce Bank, Disney, Ingersoll Rand, Johnson & Johnson, Pearson Education, Teach for America, and others.
In particular, a Lafayette mathematics alumnus working at Accenture writes: "After many years of being absent from recruiting at Lafayette, Accenture will be participating in the Career Fair. I was hoping you could encourage some of the math majors to attend the fair and check out Accenture."
Contact
Linda Arra, Director, Career Services, for more information.
From Summer 2004
From Academic Year 2003-2004
Congratulations to Mathematics Students Honored This Spring!
Philip Dimitrov is the winner of the 2004 Wesley S. Mitman Prize, and Ekaterina Jager is the recipient of the 2004 James P. Crawford Award.
Also, Carrie Abildgaard, Elisabeth Edwards, and Douglas Schiz graduated with honors.
For more information on recent honors theses, see
"Honors, Independent Study, and Research".
Congratulations to the 2003 Putnam Exam Participants!
22 Lafayette students took the all-day exam
Lafayette had a record turnout for the 2003 William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition.
The 7 Lafayette students with the highest individual scores were Zach Reiter (score of 18, national rank of 498.5);
Ekaterina Jager (14, 549); Jacob Carson, Ayelin Gerek, Josh Porter, and Brian Regan (10, 905.5);
and Haotian Wu (8, 1120.5). The other Lafayette participants were Farhan Ahmed, Maria Azimova,
Ibrahima Bah, Kari Barkley, Prince Chidyagwai, Kevin Ehly, Teruhisa Haruguchi, John Kolba,
Brian Kronenthal, Ryan McCall, Rob McEwen, Verun Mehta, Kyle Palmer, Dhiraj Sharma, and
Zach Silverman.
Across North America, 3615 undergraduate students from over 450 colleges and universities
participated.
Lafayette's 3-member team had a rank of 111, in the top 25 percent of all participating institutions.
Interested in taking next year's exam or participating in the weekly
Problem Group?
Please contact Professor Smith.
The Team Barge Competition
continues throughout the Spring. Solutions are due on Fridays.
Make a team of three and solve weekly problems! See the
announcement.
Contact
Professor Berkove for more information.
The Lafayette Problem Group
meets on Wednesdays at 4:15 in Pardee Hall, Room 227.
Everyone is welcome! Old problems and other information about the group can be found
here. Copies of
problem sets are also available outside of Pardee 224.
Contact
Professor Smith for more information.
Game Hour!
is the time to learn and play games like chess, bridge, go, backgammon, Scrabble, etc.
Meet Friday afternoons around 4:00pm on the 2nd floor of Pardee Hall.
Bring boards and game pieces along if you have them, or show up empty-handed. Refreshments will be served. Sponsored by the Mathematics Club.
Math Club: Election Results
The Math Club officers for 2004-2005 are Ekaterina Jager (President),
Maria Azimova (Vice-President), Brian Kronenthal (Secretary), and
Haotian Wu (Treasurer).
If you would like to participate in the planning of Math Club events,
such as the Problem Group, the Game Hour, the invited speaker
series, or anything else you can think of, please contact
Ekaterina.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, April 28, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Math Bowl 2004 lwoB htaM
How quickly can you answer questions like:
What is the smallest 4-digit prime number?
Who is the author of the calculus book used in Math 161, 162, and 263?
Which math department professor has a last name that can be rearranged to spell "SETS ON FIRE"?
Come to Math Bowl and watch four teams of four students battle it out for the title of
"Best Group of Four Students Who Can Answer Questions Like These."
Lunch will be provided.
For more information, please contact Professor Gordon.
2004 Barge Mathematics Contest
Saturday, April 17, from 9:00am to Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
Cash Prizes! Free Lunch!
No preregistration required.
The (Individual) Barge Mathematics Contest is open to all first and second year students.
The problems vary in difficulty; most emphasize insight and ingenuity rather than
specific knowledge or computational skill.
Prize amounts: $500 for first, $300 for second, and $200 for third.
Example problem: Find the 2004th digit to the right of the decimal point in
0.102030405060708090100110120130140...
For more information, please contact Professor Zulli.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, April 21, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Funny Dice and Electoral Paradoxes
A talk by
Professor Lorenzo Traldi
Universita' Natale di Roma
A funny die is an ordinary cubical die, which has been marked with numbers between 1 and 6 spots on each face. Two funny dice compete in a simple game: both are thrown, and whichever shows a larger number wins that throw. We imagine the game being played repeatedly and ask: which of the two dice would we expect to be stronger -- that is, to win more throws over the long run?
For instance, a die marked (4,4,4,4,4,4) is clearly stronger than a die marked (3,3,3,3,3,3). Strangely enough, though, both of them tie with a die marked (1,1,1,6,6,6). (Verify this!) We'll discuss some surprising results about competing funny dice, and a quick summary of the analogy between funny dice and multi-candidate elections.
Lunch will be provided.
For more information, please contact Professor Traldi.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, March 31, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
From Linking Numbers to Lights Out
A talk by
Professor Mark Kidwell
U. S. Naval Academy
In a link of c circles in three-space, you can assign an integer to each pair of circles called the linking number. Before you can talk about positive and negative linking numbers, you have to put an arrow (orientation) on each of your circles. In a famous table of knots and links, Bailey and Roth neglected to put arrows on their circles. The question arises: can you add arrows in a way that will make all c-choose-2 of your linking numbers positive? Reversing the arrow on one circle alters the signs of all the linking numbers involving that circle. The situation is similar to the game of Lights Out, in which pressing a button to change one light in a rectangular array also changes the status of neighboring lights.
Lunch will be provided.
"EW" stands for "Every Wednesday"
"Complex Numbers and Functions," by Professor Zulli
Wednesday, March 24, at 12:15 in Pardee 227
Professor Zulli will give a very gentle introduction to some of the main characters
who will appear in Math 345 (Complex Analysis) this Fall. The discussion should
be accessible to all.
Contact
Professor Zulli for more information.
Summer Opportunities and Internships in Mathematics
Monday, February 23, from 12:15 until 1:00 in Pardee 216
An informal meeting will be held to discuss summer
opportunities and internships for mathematics students.
Rachel Moeller from Career Services will join
mathematics faculty to provide information and
answer questions.
Drop by the session for any portion of the lunch hour
that you have free. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Opportunities are available for students at all
levels, including first- and second-year students.
This event is sponsored by the Math Club. Light
refreshments will be served.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, December 3, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Fractals, Pictures, Movies
A talk by
Professor Yan Lyansky
Lafayette College
In a practical setting, fractals are used to describe the shape of snowflakes, ferns, and the design of tires. Artistically, they are also used to create naturally occurring images, movies, and sounds. We will investigate some artistic fractals to see how they implement mathematical ideas.
Lunch will be provided.
Ever thought of Mathematics Graduate School?
Get to know your GRE!
Sundays at 5:00pm in Pardee Hall, Room 201
Refreshments provided
Most mathematics graduate schools require you take a test called the
Mathematics Subject Exam in addition to the General GRE.
So, if you've got even just a remote interest in mathematics
graduate school, you should find out what this exam is all about!
We'll discuss topics on the exam, including which courses at
Lafayette cover them.
You might be surprised at how many problems you can do already,
regardless of your current background!
Refreshments will be provided. Everyone is welcome!
Sponsored by the Math Club.
For more information, contact Professor Smith.
Mathematica Seminar
Wednesdays at 4:30pm in Pardee Hall, Room 219
There will be a Mathematica
Seminar on Wednesdays at 4:30 in the lab.
Professor Lyansky will begin
the first few sessions by following examples and problems from
"An Introduction to Programming with Mathematica" by Gaylord, Kamin, and
Wellin.
The goal is to have the students solve some problems from the
"American Mathematical Monthly" using Mathematica.
For more information, contact
Professor Lyansky.
The Mathematics Club at Lafayette
is planning many events for the current year.
Join the club and get involved -- everyone is welcome!
General Meeting: Thursday, November 6, at 4:00 in Pardee 227
Contact the club president,
Katya Jager, for more information.
The Team Barge Competition
is underway this Fall. Solutions are due on Fridays.
Make a team of three and solve weekly problems! See the
announcement.
Contact
Professor Berkove for more information.
The Lafayette Problem Group
meets on Thursdays this Fall at 4:15 in Pardee Hall, Room 227.
Everyone is welcome! Old problems and other information about the group can be found
here. Copies of
the current problem set are also available outside of Pardee 224.
Contact
Professor Smith for more information.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Friday, November 14, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Graph Coloring, Chromatic Polynomials, and Statistical Physics
A talk by
Professor Alan Sokal
NYU
Suppose we are given a graph G, and want to color its vertices
using a certain number q of colors, in such a way that
a pair of adjacent vertices must always be given different
colors. The smallest integer q for which this can be done
is called the chromatic number of G, and has been
much studied by combinatorial mathematicians. I want to focus
attention instead on the number of different ways that
G can be colored using q colors (of course, for some values
of q the answer might be zero). I will prove that this number
is in fact a polynomial in q, which is called the
chromatic polynomial of the graph G. I will then
discuss questions related to the real and complex roots of
the chromatic polynomial, and explain how they are related to
the problem of phase transitions in statistical physics.
No prior knowledge of graph theory or statistical physics
is needed to understand this talk --- just a basic understanding
of calculus and complex numbers. (It helps if you're heard of
the concept of an analytic function of a complex variable,
but I'll explain it briefly if needed.)
Lunch will be provided.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, October 22, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Enigma
A talk by
Professor Tom Yuster
Lafayette College
It's 1943. The Germans have just unexpectedly changed their code and
the British can no longer break it. Allied convoys are suddenly at
terrible risk. The outcome of WWII hangs in the balance. That's not
what this talk is about (but it makes a good plot line for the movie
Enigma). Instead, the talk concerns what happened many years before.
It's 1926. The Germans have adopted the Enigma code. The French have
one of the German code machines. It doesn't matter - they still can't
break the code. They share intelligence with the Poles, who do
something new in the annals of code breaking - they recruit
mathematicians. What transpires changes the course of WWII, as it
makes possible the accomplishments of the British code breakers
loosely chronicled in Enigma. In this talk, I'll show you some of the
ideas the Poles used in breaking the first of the Enigma codes, the
ideas that became the foundations for British code breaking during
WWII.
Lunch will be provided.
Actuarial Information Session
Sponsored by Travelers Insurance
Wednesday, October 15, at 7pm in Pardee Hall, Room 201
Refreshments provided
Lafayette graduate Betsy DePaolo '93 (Betsy Bassett) will be presenting an actuarial information session sponsored by Travelers Insurance. She will be discussing the actuarial profession in general, as well as summer internship and full-time employment opportunities at Travelers Insurance. Each year, several mathematics students do such internships and several graduates start careers as actuaries.
For more information, contact Professor Fisher.
Sign Up for the Putnam Mathematics Exam
The exam takes place on Saturday, December 6.
Register by Tuesday, October 14.
Sign up outside of Pardee 224, or send an email to
Professor Smith.
Saturday, December 6, is the day after classes are over and
two full days before final exams begin on Tuesday. The timing
is perfect!
Of course, you are not expected to get a high score
on the exam, or even get a positive score at all! (The
median score two years ago was 0 out of 120.) Just take
it for fun, and hold out some hope that you just might
get something right on one or two problems.
The exam has two parts, one from 10:00 until 1:00
and the other from 3:00 until 6:00. Come to whatever
portion of the exam you can make. Breakfast and lunch
are provided.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, October 1, at Noon in Pardee Hall
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Bringing Math into the Fold: Mathematics and Origami
A talk by
Professor Ethan Berkove
Lafayette College
What possible connection could there be between the traditional Japanese art of folding paper and mathematics? One might be surprised to learn that over the last couple of decades the connections between origami and mathematics have been extensively studied. Some of the results are purely recreational in nature. Others are deeper, relating to questions in classical geometry, graph theory, and algebra. The purpose of this talk is to give an introduction to some of what's happening in this interesting intersection between art and mathematics. I'll bring some interesting origami too!
Lunch will be provided.
The (New!) Mathematics Club presents
Wednesday, September 10, at 4:15 in Pardee Hall, Room 227
"Games People Don't Play"
A talk by Peter Winkler
Director of Fundamental Mathematics Research, Bell Labs
Not all games are to play; some of the most amusing are
designed just to think about. Is the game fair? What's the
best strategy? We will describe several games collected from
various sources. An odd (actually, even) feature of this list
is that each game has two versions, with surprising contrasts
between the two.
Time permitting, there are four pairs of games: the first
involving numbers, the second hats, the third cards, and the
fourth gladiators.
Refreshments will be provided.
From Academic Year 2002-2003
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, April 30, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
The Math Bowl:
See Student Teams Compete to Show They Know Math
Lunch will be provided.
Barge Contest
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, April 23, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
The Generalized Riemann Integral:
Integration the Way It Oughtaí Be
Lazar Nikolic ë03
Presents some results of his
Senior Honors Thesis
We will introduce a generalization of Riemann integration. The Generalized Riemann Integral extends the set of integrable functions, has desirable convergence properties and satisfies a strong Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. Furthermore, we can accomplish all of this without a lot of theoretical complexity. Examples will be used to show how to compute values of this more general integral and to demonstrate some of its properties.
Lunch will be provided.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Thursday, April 17, at 12:15 in Pardee Hall, Room 201
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
What Is A Ring?
A talk by
Mark Rhodes
Colgate University
In this talk I will make some straightforward observations concerning the set of zero points of the polynomial in two variables y2!x3!x2. These observations will lead us to discover a fundamental correspondence between this geometric object and an algebraic one called a coordinate ring. In general, the connection between these objects allows one to study the individual points on a curve algebraically.
Lunch will be provided.
Maad Talk on Wed April 16
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Friday, March 28, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Counting Binary Trees
A talk by
John Donnelly
SUNY Binghamton
The speaker will give a brief introduction to binary trees and will then show methods for counting the number of binary trees which have n non-terminal vertices.
Lunch will be provided.
Maad Talk on Wed March 26
Maad Talk on Wed February 26
Maad Talk on Wed November 20th
Change Ringing, by Professor Liz McMahon
CIGNA Actuarial Program Opportunities
Date: Wednesday, Noveber 13th
Time: 6:30 pm
Place: Pardee 201
Food: Pizza
CIGNA will be sponsoring an information session on the actuarial profession in general, and employment opportunities (summer and full-time) at CIGNA in particular. Mark Coslett, from the class of 2001 will be among the presenters. Pizza and refreshments will be provided.
13th LVAIC Math Contest results are in
2002 LVAIC Math Contest - Final Results
LVAIC Explodes! The 13th LVAIC Math Contest, held at Moravian College on Oct. 19, 2002 attracted a record 55 students. The students represented 5 of the 6 member institutions, and were grouped into 16 teams, with each team consisting of 3 or 4 students. As usual, we had a small breakfast before the contest and a pizza-solution fest afterwards.
For the 3rd straight contest, the winning team is from Lafayette, with a score of 72 out of 100. The winning team members are three first year students:
1st:(72 pts) Ibrahima Bah, Josh Porter, and John Kolba
Lafayette teams also took 2nd and 3rd place:
2nd: (65 pts) Guangxi Wang, Alex Balan and Lazar Nickolic
3rd: (61 pts) Ed Swartz, Prince Chidyagwai, Rob McEwen, and Usman Khan
Moravian took 4th place:
4th: (60 pts) Borko Milosev, Fei Sun, Amy Kish, and Brian Holder.
Please congratulate these students for their efforts -- they all gave up a Saturday morning to take the test.
The complete results are: lvaic_math_contest_2002.pdf. (Please excuse any misspellings of names, which are taken from the sign-in sheets.)
Maad Talk on Wed November 6th
Maad Talk on Wed Oct 23
Traveler's Visit
Maad Talk on Wed Sept 18
Lafayette Problem Group Meets this Fall
The Lafayette Problem Group will begin meeting soon!
If you are interested, please contact
Professor Gordon,
or visit our table at the Activities Fair on Wednesday, August 28,
from 7pm until 9pm in Farinon.
Information and problem sets from the past two years can be found
online
here.
REU Program Sponsors Four Talks
This past summer, as part of the math department's
Research Experience for Undergraduates
program, four outside speakers gave fascinating talks
on a variety of mathematical subjects.
Copies of fliers for each of the talks can be
found here:
Sean Cleary (CCNY),
Matthias Beck (SUNY-Binghamton),
Susan Hermiller (Nebraska), and
Bob Connelly (Cornell).
From Last Year 
Math Bowl 2002 lwoB htaM
Monday, April 29, from Noon until 1pm in Pardee 201
How quickly can you answer questions like:
What's the sum of the first four primes?
Who is the author of the calculus book used in Math 161, 162, and 263?
Which math department professor has a last name that can be rearranged to spell "SETS ON FIRE"?
Come to Math Bowl and watch four teams of four students battle it out for the title of
"Best Group of Four Students Who Can Answer Questions Like Those." Lunch will be
provided.
Modeling Teams Receive Ratings of Meritorious and Honorable Mention
The results of this year's modeling competitions (see the
announcement below) are in.
We had two teams in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM).
The team of Lazar Nikolic, Dan Swarr and Guangxi Wang earned a rating of Meritorious,
the second highest rating possible, for the third consecutive year.
The problem they solved had to do with regulating the flow of water in a public fountain
to avoid having passersby get sprayed under windy conditions.
(Only 4 of the 279 teams that submitted solutions of that problem earned a higher ranking.)
Check out the two MCM problems,
along with the complete results.
This year, for the first time, we had a team in the Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM).
Andrew Colton, Rob McEwen and Nathan Tregger earned an Honorable Mention for their work on the
ecology of the Florida Scrub Lizard. (Sounds yummy, doesn't it?)
Check out the ICM problem
and complete results.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Monday, April 22, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 201
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Symbolic Logic and Network Reliability
A talk by
Professor Lorenzo Traldi
Lafayette College
(Here's the advertisement.)
Lunch will be provided.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, March 20, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Growing Fractals, Making Mountains, and
(Maybe) Finding Patterns on Wall Street
A talk by
Professor Michael Frame
Yale University
We'll introduce fractal geometry as a language for roughness in Nature.
After discussing mathematical schemes for generating simple fractals,
we'll show how modifications of these methods can be used to synthesize
realistic natural scenes, and to identify patterns in data. We'll conclude
with an exposition of Mandelbrot's (the inventor of fractal geometry) recent
"cartoons" (models) of the stock market.
Lunch will be provided.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, February 20, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
A Hurried Look at the History of College Calculus in the United States
(with Special Emphasis on What Happened Here at Lafayette)
A talk by
Professor Jim Crawford
Calculus as we know it was created in the latter part of the seventeenth century,
developed in the eighteenth century, and made rigorous in the nineteenth century.
But when did calculus become part of the curriculum at colleges and universities?
When and where was calculus first taught in the United States? How early in the
life of Lafayette College was calculus a part of the curriculum? How did
nineteenth century students at Lafayette and other colleges react to their
experiences with calculus? What occurred at Lafayette in the eighteen-seventies
that began a student-run theatrical tradition that continued for half a century
with the unlikely title of "The Calculus Plays"?
Come and find out about the surprisingly rich (and occasionally humorous) role
that calculus has played in the history of Lafayette College.
Lunch will be provided.
Two Modeling Contests:
MCM/ICM '02
February 7 - 11, 2002
Problems for both of the 2002 competitions can now be found online: MCM and ICM.
This year, Lafayette's two MCM teams are Lazar Nikolic, Dan Swarr and Guangxi Wang, and Farhan Ahmed, Alex Balan and Steve DiMauro. Andrew Colton, Rob McEwen and Nathan Tregger form the ICM team. For more information, see the original post below.
Interested in next year's competition? Talk to Professor Hill, Pardee 214.
[From the original post.] The eighteenth annual Mathematical Contest in Modeling will be held on the weekend of February 7-11, 2002. In this international competition, teams of three students are given a long weekend to create a mathematical model which can be used to analyze a "real world" problem. Last year, 496 teams representing 238 institutions from 11 countries participated in the contest. The Lafayette team (Lazar Nikolic, Dan Swarr and Guangxi Wang) won a rating of Meritorious for its efforts, placing it somewhere in the top 16% in the world. This year, we want to field two teams for the competition.
Each team in the competition is presented with two problems and asked to choose one. The problems tend to be open-ended and very realistic.
There are no special prerequisites for participating in the competition. It is generally better to know more, rather than less, mathematics, but it is certainly not necessary to have taken a course in mathematical modeling. Do you think that you might be interested in participating in this competition? Although the contest is still two months away, teams are forming now and you should talk to Professor Hill (hillt@lafayette.edu) soon.
We are also interested in forming one or more teams to participate in the fourth annual Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling. The format of the ICM is similar to that of the MCM and both contests will be held February 7-11, 2002. However, the ICM problem will reflect a situation in mathematics, environmental science, environmental engineering, and/or resource management. To construct and analyze a model for this scenario, knowledge of environmental science, environmental engineering, biology, and/or resource management is likely to be helpful.
Last year's problems are contained in following announcement.
Mathematical Adventures and Diversions (MAAD)
Wednesday, November 7, at Noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
The Lafayette College Mathematics Department presents
Chaos on a Donut:
A linear map of the torus with pictures
A talk by
Bruce Kitchens
IBM Research, Yorktown Heights, NY
A torus has the shape of a donut or bagel. Functions from a torus to itelf are very interesting and can have fascinating pictures associated with them. We will examine a special function F from the torus to itself.
This function F will map the torus onto itself in a one-to-one way, and it is linear, meaning that F(x+y) = F(x) + F(y) (where addition is carried out on the torus).
We will see pictures of how the function F "mixes up" the points on the torus, and we will also see that it is "chaotic" in the strongest sense.
Lunch will be provided.
Like math? The
Lafayette Problem Group
meets weekly on
Wednesday afternoons at 4:15 in Pardee 201.
Here's a
recent problem set.
For more info, write to
smithder@lafayette.edu.
Math Department Picnic
Saturday, April 28, from 3pm until dusk at the Forks Township Municipal Park
The math department will hold its annual picnic on Saturday, April 28, at the
Forks Township Municipal Park. We have reserved the pavilion next to the basketball
courts. Food will be served around 4pm. Transportation will be available
from campus; more details will be announced closer to the date. For more
information, or
to express an interest in getting a ride to the park, contact a current
Pi Mu Espilon officer or Prof.
Evan Fisher.
Math Bowl 2001
Wednesday, April 25, from noon until 1pm in Pardee 227
How quickly can you answer questions like:
What's the sum of the first four primes?
Who is the author of the calculus book used in Math 161, 162, and 263?
Which math department professor has a last name that can be rearranged to spell "SETS ON FIRE"?
Come to Math Bowl and watch four teams of four students battle it out for the title of
"Best Group of Four Students Who Can Answer Questions Like Those." In fact, there's still
time for you to participate! Create a group of four students and go sign up on the
form outside of Prof. Berkove's office, Pardee 211.
Individual Barge Mathematics Contest
Open to First- and Second-Year Students
Saturday, April 21, from 9am until noon in Pardee Hall, Room 227
Cash Prizes! Free Lunch!
No preregistration required.
The Individual Barge Mathematics Contest is open to all first- and second-year
students. The problems vary in difficulty; most emphasize insight and ingenuity
rather than specific knowledge or computational skill. For more information,
contact Prof. Louis Zulli.
Prize amounts:
$300 for first place, $200 for second, $100 for third.
From last year's contest: What's the 2000th digit to the right of the
decimal place in
0.102030405060708090100110120130140...
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