Spring 2012 Lectures

Many cultures use repeating patterns and designs within their artwork and crafts. A tremendous amount of such artwork corresponds to classical mathematical formulations of design symmetries, and those mathematical ideas come up widely across cultures. But the exact way in which those ideas are expressed varies tremendously between cultures. Some cultures may use only a few of the available mathematical options, and which options they use are culture-specific, or specific to a particular art form. Other cultures introduce variations to their symmetries that violate mathematical symmetry definitions, and do so in consistent, formal, and culturally specific ways. These examples may be "mathematically rigorous," but are not well modeled by traditional mathematical approaches. In some cases, these variations may just be "tradition," but in other cases they appear to be based on specific artistic goals, cultural phenomena or values, or for known historical reasons. We will look at several examples of such art, identifying both the mathematical symmetries and the artistic variations within those symmetries.

Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science. B.A. University of Michigan–Flint, M.A. (mathematics), M.S. (computer science), and Ph.D. (geometry) University of Wisconsin–Madison. Darrah received a National Science Foundation grant to start the departmental Macintosh lab. He developed the lab exercises for CS 111 and has published a series of papers on the geometry of tilings. He is the author of Drawing Pictures with One Line: Exploring Graph Theory (1983). For many years he coached the College's teams in the annual ACM Computer Programming Competition, including two teams that went to the international finals. Special interests include the design and analysis of algorithms, software engineering, operating systems, parallel programming, geometry, and ethnomathematics. Web site: http://cs.beloit.edu/chavey

Fall 2012 Lectures

Prof. Thomas Drucker, UW-W
Past Lectures: (Counting Bridges with Euler)

Dr. Karl Schaffer, De Anza College, CA

Past Lectures: (Power Rankings: Math for March Madness)

Professor James Swenson is in his eighth year in the UW-Platteville math department. He earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) under the direction of Mark Feshbach, studying symmetry in many-dimensional spaces. His Erdos number is 5.

String theory predicts that the universe we live in has six extra dimensions. These extra dimensions are curled up on each other in a specific shape called a Calabi-Yau manifold. In fact, string theory makes an even more surprising prediction: there are pairs of Calabi-Yau manifolds that yield the same observable, physical universe. What does it mean for a six-dimensional space to have a specific shape? How can we describe the pairs of spaces? The answer lies in much simpler shapes: polygons and polyhedra drawn by "connecting the dots".

Ursula Whitcher is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. She received her Ph.D. at the University of Washington and spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvey Mudd College before returning to an institution with her initials. ( http://people.uwec.edu/whitchua/)

Downloads: Powerpoint of "The Mathematics of the Simpsons" and Document "Math of the Simpsons"

The Simpsons is the longest running scripted television show in history. It may surprise many to learn that many of the show's writers and producers have mathematical backgrounds. Over the past 22 years, there have been numerous math-related moments on the show. Come see some funny mathematical clips, and learn how mathematics from geometry to number theory have appeared on the Simpsons. Bring a writing utensil and a calculator as you too can discover the mathematics of the Simpsons!

Dave Ebert has taught high and middle school mathematics for 19 years, the last 16 at Oregon High School. He is currently president of the Wisconsin Mathematics Council (WMC), and has been on the WMC Board of Directors for seven years. He has offered workshops and taught courses at school districts throughout the upper Midwest, and has presented at a number of WMC, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and Texas Instruments conferences. Dave has also been published a number of times in the WMC and NCTM journals. Dave earned his bachelor xs degree from Marquette University and his master xs degree from Viterbo University. He has been awarded the Young Alumnus of the Year from the Marquette University School of Education, was given a Best Buy Teach Award, and earned a Miriam Connellan Mathematics Teaching Award

Fall 2011 Lectures

Previous Lectures: (A Historical Look at the Car-and-Goats Problem)(#85 What are Trapezoidal Numbers?)(#74 "The Tower of Hanoi Puzzle"), (#7"Some Binary Curiosities") , (#43"How many Coconuts?--The Famous Monkey, Sailors, and Coconuts Problem") , (#63"Some (Sum) Numerical Curiosities for 2007"), (#16 "Two men thinking about math recreations")

Previous Lectures: (Why Knot?)

Previous Lectures: (Invariant-Based Face Recognition)

Previous Lectures: (Fibonacci Trees: A Dream Come True),(A marvelously terrible algorithm from Leonhard Euler), (Mathematics to the Rescue: Centrality in Graphs)

Past Lectures: (Odd Pie Fights), (You Took How Many? NIM Type Games), (a2 + b2 = c2 Says Who?), (Two men thinking about math recreations)

Spring 2011 Lectures

Previous Lectures: (Do Dogs Know Calculus?)

Past Lectures: "Pythagorean Triples: Where Do They Come From?", "The Golden Ratio", "Finding the Odd Weight", "Worms, Blocks, and Harmony", "Honey, Where Shall We Sit?" and "One Potato, Two Potato, ..."

Fall 2010 Lectures

Previous Lectures: (Mathematics: A Symphony, Not A Scale), (Probability Puzzlers), (Mathematical Elegance - The Secret Life of Mathematicians), (Painting, Parity and Persistance), (The case of the migrating umbrellas), (Mathematics - A Study of Pattern)

Previous Lectures: (#85 What are Trapezoidal Numbers?)(#74 "The Tower of Hanoi Puzzle"), (#7"Some Binary Curiosities") , (#43"How many Coconuts?--The Famous Monkey, Sailors, and Coconuts Problem") , (#63"Some (Sum) Numerical Curiosities for 2007"), (#16 "Two men thinking about math recreations")

Spring 2010 Lectures

Past Lectures: ("Mass Points: Geometry by Physics"), ("Wine bottles and Pizza sharing"), ("Choosing Your Ideal Companion and Other Probabilistic Surprises")

Fall 2009 Lectures

Past Lectures: (You Took How Many? NIM Type Games), (a2 + b2 = c2 Says Who?), (Two men thinking about math recreations)

Past Lectures: "The Golden Ratio", "Finding the Odd Weight", "Worms, Blocks, and Harmony", "Honey, Where Shall We Sit?" and "One Potato, Two Potato, ..."

Past Lectures: "Rational Approximations to Irrational Numbers", "The Quadratic Equation and Beyond", " A Collection of Diophantine Problems", "Some Sums"

Spring 2009 Lectures

Past Lectures: (#74 "The Tower of Hanoi Puzzle"), (#7"Some Binary Curiosities") , (#43"How many Coconuts?--The Famous Monkey, Sailors, and Coconuts Problem") , (#63"Some (Sum) Numerical Curiosities for 2007"), (#16 "Two men thinking about math recreations")

Previous Lectures: (Probability Puzzlers), (Mathematical Elegance - The Secret Life of Mathematicians), (Painting, Parity and Persistance), (The case of the migrating umbrellas), (Mathematics - A Study of Pattern)

Fall 2008 Lectures

Previous Lectures: (Wine bottles and Pizza sharing) , (Choosing Your Ideal Companion and Other Probabilistic Surprises)

Previous Lectures: (Dirty Children, Unfaithful Husbands, and Similar Problems) , (Triangular Miracles)

Spring 2008 Lectures

Fall 2007 Lectures

Spring 2007 Lectures

( Brain Teasers, Trivia, and Math Puzzlers, Score Totals Brainfreeze Puzzles WSJ article )

Fall 2006 Lectures

Spring 2006 Lectures

Fall 2005 Lectures

Spring 2005 Lectures

Fall 2004 Lectures

Spring 2004 Lectures

Fall 2003 Lectures

Fall 2000 Lectures