Colloquium
Math colloquia will meet on each Thursday of the semester at 3:30pm in Science Building room 2, unless otherwise noted. Refreshments served.
Previous Talks
Dr. John Osoinach
University of Dallas
Cake-Cutting Problems: An Introduction to Fair Division
The problem of fair division is quite old, yet many procedures to divide objects up
fairly do not yield optimal results. In this talk, we will focus on the class of
problems known as cake-cutting problems, where two or more people must divide an object
into sections so that each person receives their fair share of the object. We will
look at a variety of procedures that guarantees that each person a proportional amount
of the object to be divided, and then investigate what happens when one person believes
the object has been divided unfairly.
Dr. Jeremy Alm
Illinois College
Games on a Doughnut: Rubik's Slide and the Blindfold Solution
Rubik's Slide is a new electronic variation on the classical Rubik's cube. We will discuss strategies for solving this puzzle using techniques taken from group theory and graph theory, as well as applications to the Riemann Hypothesis, the problem of global warming, and the problem of evil.
Dr. David Andrews
Univeristy of Dallas
Bayes at Bat
Bayesian Statistics uses Bayes Theorem (named after the Rev. Thomas Bayes) as it's central methodology. We introduce this theorem and Bayesian statistics, and then use them in estimating the probability of a particular event from the results of repeated trials (e.g. estimating the probability of a batter getting a hit given the results of a number of at bats). We then move to the problem of multiple comparisons: given results from several different batters, how do they compare to one another in terms of their probability of getting a hit.