Date: Oct 27, 2008

Speaker: Chi-Kwong Li, Univ of William and Mary.

Title: One horse racing story in ancient China, two types of card games, three theorems in matrix theory, and a number of consequences

Abstract:  Motivated by a horse racing story in ancient China, we consider two types of card games, whose outcomes are related to the inertia of Hermitian matrices with prescribed eigenvalues. The study has interesting connections and implications to other areas such as probability, statistics, and algebraic combinatorics.

Date: Nov 3, 2008

Speaker: Dan Slilaty, Wright State Univ,

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA

Date: Nov 10, 2008

Speaker: Barbara MacCluer, Univ of Virginia (tentative)

Title: TBA but an expository talk on composition operators.

Abstract: TBA

 

Date: Janurary 22, 2009

Speaker: Edmund Harris,

Title: Some Aspects of the Penrose Tiling

Abstract: The Penrose tiling was discovered in the 1970s and is one of the simplest known sets of Aperiodic tiles.  These are sets of tiles which tile the plane only in a non-periodic manner.  It is also very beautiful as it has a five fold rotational
symmetry.

In this talk I will discuss the Penrose tiling and the links between two methods of constructing it.  The substitution method used by Penrose and the projection method discovered by De Bruijn.

 

Date: February 19 (Thursday)

Speaker: David Bressoud, Macalester College, Undergraduate Colloquium,

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA