AMS Student Chapter Seminar: Difference between revisions

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The AMS Student Chapter Seminar is an informal, graduate student-run seminar on a wide range of mathematical topics. Pastries (usually donuts) will be provided.
The AMS Student Chapter Seminar (aka Donut Seminar) is an informal, graduate student seminar on a wide range of mathematical topics. The goal of the seminar is to promote community building and give graduate students an opportunity to communicate fun, accessible math to their peers in a stress-free (but not sugar-free) environment. Pastries (usually donuts) will be provided.


* '''When:''' Wednesdays, 3:30 PM – 4:00 PM
* '''When:''' Thursdays 4:00-4:30pm
* '''Where:''' Van Vleck, 9th floor lounge (unless otherwise announced)
* '''Where:''' Van Vleck, 9th floor lounge (unless otherwise announced)
* '''Organizers:''' Daniel Hast, Ryan Julian, Cullen McDonald, Zachary Charles
* '''Organizers:''' Ivan Aidun, Kaiyi Huang, Ethan Schondorf


Everyone is welcome to give a talk. To sign up, please contact one of the organizers with a title and abstract. Talks are 30 minutes long and should avoid assuming significant mathematical background beyond first-year graduate courses.
Everyone is welcome to give a talk. To sign up, please contact one of the organizers with a title and abstract. Talks are 25 minutes long and should avoid assuming significant mathematical background beyond first-year graduate courses.


The schedule of talks from past semesters can be found [[AMS Student Chapter Seminar, previous semesters|here]].
The schedule of talks from past semesters can be found [[AMS Student Chapter Seminar, previous semesters|here]].


== Fall 2016 ==
== Fall 2024 ==
<center>
{| cellspacing="5" cellpadding="14" border="0" style="color:black; font-size:120%"
! align="center" width="200" bgcolor="#D0D0D0" |'''Date'''
! align="center" width="200" bgcolor="#A6B658" |'''Speaker'''
! align="center" width="300" bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |'''Title'''
! align="center" width="400" bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |'''Abstract'''
|-
| bgcolor="#D0D0D0" |September 12
| bgcolor="#A6B658" |Ari Davidovsky
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |95% of people can't solve this!
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" | [[File:Image.png|360px]]


=== October 12, Soumya Sankar ===
We will attempt to answer this question and along the way explore how algebra and geometry work together to solve problems in number theory.
|-
| bgcolor="#D0D0D0" |September 19
| bgcolor="#A6B658" |CANCELLED
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |NONE
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |NONE
|-
| bgcolor="#D0D0D0" |September 26
| bgcolor="#A6B658" |Mateo Morales
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |Officially petitioning the department to acquire a ping pong table.
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |Ever want to prove something is a free group of rank 2? Me too. One way to do this is to use a ping pong argument of how a group generated by two elements acts on a set.
I will illustrate the ping pong argument using an example of matrices, explain how it works, and explain why, kinda.


Title: Primes of certain forms and covering systems
Very approachable if you know what a group is but does require tons of ping pong experience.
 
|-
Abstract: A lot of classical questions revolve around primes of the form 2^n + k, where k is an odd integer. I will talk about such primes, or the lack thereof, and use this to convert coffee into covering systems. Time permitting, I'll talk about a few cool results and conjectures related to the notion of covering systems.
| bgcolor="#D0D0D0" |October 3
 
| bgcolor="#A6B658" |Karthik Ravishankar
=== October 19, Daniel Hast ===
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |Incompleteness for the working mathematician
 
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |In this talk we'll take a look at Gödels famous incompleteness theorems and look at some of its immediate as well as interesting consequences. No background in logic is necessary!
Title: A combinatorial lemma in linear algebra
|-
 
| bgcolor="#D0D0D0" |October 10
Abstract: I'll talk about a fun little lemma in linear algebra and its combinatorial interpretation. (It might be "well-known" to someone, but I'd never heard of it before.) If there's time, I'll discuss some possible generalizations.
| bgcolor="#A6B658" |Elizabeth Hankins
 
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |Mathematical Origami and Flat-Foldability
=== October 26, Brandon Alberts ===
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |If you've ever unfolded a piece of origami, you might have noticed complicated symmetries in the pattern of creases left behind. What patterns of lines can and cannot be folded into origami? And why is it sometimes hard to determine?
 
|-
Title: An Introduction to Matroids
| bgcolor="#D0D0D0" |October 17
 
| bgcolor="#A6B658" |CANCELLED
Abstract: What if you wanted to do linear algebra, but couldn't use addition or scalar multiplication? Can we still have a notion of independence and bases? The answer is yes, and these are called matroids. Not only will I introduce matroids, but I will give an example that shows not all matroids arise from vector spaces.
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |NONE
 
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |NONE
=== November 2, Vlad Matei ===
|-
 
| bgcolor="#D0D0D0" |October 24
Title: Hadamard Matrices
| bgcolor="#A6B658" |CANCELLED
 
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |NONE
Abstract: A Hadamard matrix is a square matrix whose entries are either +1 or −1 and whose rows are mutually orthogonal. The most important open question in the theory of Hadamard matrices is that of existence. The Hadamard conjecture proposes that a Hadamard matrix of order 4k exists for every positive integer k. The Hadamard conjecture has also been attributed to Paley, although it was considered implicitly by others prior to Paley's work.
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |NONE
 
|-
=== November 9, David Bruce ===
| bgcolor="#D0D0D0" |October 31
 
| bgcolor="#A6B658" |Jacob Wood
Title: Some Numbers Are Sometimes Bigger Than Others (Sometimes...)
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |What is the length of a <s>potato</s> pumpkin?
 
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |How many is a jack-o-lantern? What is the length of a pumpkin? These questions sound like nonsense, but they have perfectly reasonable interpretations with perfectly reasonable answers. On our journey through the haunted house with two rooms, we will encounter some scary characters like differential topology and measure theory. Do not fear; little to no experience in either subject is required.
Abstract: I will write down two numbers and show that one of them is larger than the other.
|-
 
| bgcolor="#D0D0D0" |November 7
=== November 16, Solly Parenti ===
| bgcolor="#A6B658" |CANCELLED: DISTINGUISHED LECTURE
 
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |NONE
Title: The Congruent Number Problem
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |NONE
 
|-
Abstract: To add to the over-romanticization of number theory, I will talk about a simple to state problem about triangles that quickly leads into very difficult open problems in modern number theory.
| bgcolor="#D0D0D0" |November 14
 
| bgcolor="#A6B658" |Sapir Ben-Shahar
=== November 30, Iván Ongay Valverde ===
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |Hexaflexagons
 
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |Come along for some hexaflexafun and discover the mysterious properties of hexaflexagons, the bestagons! Learn how to make and navigate through the folds of your very own paper hexaflexagon. No prior knowledge of hexagons (or hexaflexagons) is assumed.
Title: Games for fun, games to change the world, games, games, games
|-
 
| bgcolor="#D0D0D0" |November 21
Abstract: We will talk about infinite perfect information games. We will discuss different uses for these games, and we will see that some of them have interesting information for us that helps determine some properties of subsets of reals. Can games change the world? Can we use them in a non-intrusive way? Join to have fun with games, since they are games!
| bgcolor="#A6B658" |Andrew Krenz
 
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |All concepts are database queries
=== December 7, Will Mitchell ===
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |A celebrated result of applied category theory states that the category of small categories is equivalent to the category of database schemas. Therefore, every theorem about small categories can be interpreted as a theorem about databases.  Maybe you've heard someone repeat Mac Lane's famous slogan "all concepts are Kan extensions."  In this talk, I'll give a high-level overview of/introduction to categorical database theory (developed by David Spivak) wherein Kan extensions play the role of regular every day database queries.  No familiarity with categories or databases will be assumed.
 
|-
Title: An unsolved isomorphism problem from plane geometry
| bgcolor="#D0D0D0" |November 28
 
| bgcolor="#A6B658" |THANKSGIVING
Abstract: A geometric n-configuration is a collection of points and lines in the Euclidean plane such that each point lies on exactly n lines and each line passes through n points. While the study of 3-configurations dates to the nineteenth century, the first example of a 4-configuration appeared only in 1990.  I will say a few things about 4-configurations and state an unsolved problem, and I hope that someone in the audience will decide to work on it. There will be nice pictures and a shout-out to the singular value decomposition.
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |NONE
 
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |NONE
=== December 14, Paul Tveite ===
|-
| bgcolor="#D0D0D0" |December 5
| bgcolor="#A6B658" |Caroline Nunn
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |Watch Caroline eat a donut: an introduction to Morse theory
| bgcolor="#BCD2EE" |Morse theory has been described as "one of the deepest applications of differential geometry to topology." However, the concepts involved in Morse theory are so simple that you can learn them just by watching me eat a donut (and subsequently watching me give a 20 minute talk explaining Morse theory.) No background is needed beyond calc 3 and a passing familiarity with donuts.
|}
</center>

Latest revision as of 19:14, 2 December 2024

The AMS Student Chapter Seminar (aka Donut Seminar) is an informal, graduate student seminar on a wide range of mathematical topics. The goal of the seminar is to promote community building and give graduate students an opportunity to communicate fun, accessible math to their peers in a stress-free (but not sugar-free) environment. Pastries (usually donuts) will be provided.

  • When: Thursdays 4:00-4:30pm
  • Where: Van Vleck, 9th floor lounge (unless otherwise announced)
  • Organizers: Ivan Aidun, Kaiyi Huang, Ethan Schondorf

Everyone is welcome to give a talk. To sign up, please contact one of the organizers with a title and abstract. Talks are 25 minutes long and should avoid assuming significant mathematical background beyond first-year graduate courses.

The schedule of talks from past semesters can be found here.

Fall 2024

Date Speaker Title Abstract
September 12 Ari Davidovsky 95% of people can't solve this! Image.png

We will attempt to answer this question and along the way explore how algebra and geometry work together to solve problems in number theory.

September 19 CANCELLED NONE NONE
September 26 Mateo Morales Officially petitioning the department to acquire a ping pong table. Ever want to prove something is a free group of rank 2? Me too. One way to do this is to use a ping pong argument of how a group generated by two elements acts on a set.

I will illustrate the ping pong argument using an example of matrices, explain how it works, and explain why, kinda.

Very approachable if you know what a group is but does require tons of ping pong experience.

October 3 Karthik Ravishankar Incompleteness for the working mathematician In this talk we'll take a look at Gödels famous incompleteness theorems and look at some of its immediate as well as interesting consequences. No background in logic is necessary!
October 10 Elizabeth Hankins Mathematical Origami and Flat-Foldability If you've ever unfolded a piece of origami, you might have noticed complicated symmetries in the pattern of creases left behind. What patterns of lines can and cannot be folded into origami? And why is it sometimes hard to determine?
October 17 CANCELLED NONE NONE
October 24 CANCELLED NONE NONE
October 31 Jacob Wood What is the length of a potato pumpkin? How many is a jack-o-lantern? What is the length of a pumpkin? These questions sound like nonsense, but they have perfectly reasonable interpretations with perfectly reasonable answers. On our journey through the haunted house with two rooms, we will encounter some scary characters like differential topology and measure theory. Do not fear; little to no experience in either subject is required.
November 7 CANCELLED: DISTINGUISHED LECTURE NONE NONE
November 14 Sapir Ben-Shahar Hexaflexagons Come along for some hexaflexafun and discover the mysterious properties of hexaflexagons, the bestagons! Learn how to make and navigate through the folds of your very own paper hexaflexagon. No prior knowledge of hexagons (or hexaflexagons) is assumed.
November 21 Andrew Krenz All concepts are database queries A celebrated result of applied category theory states that the category of small categories is equivalent to the category of database schemas. Therefore, every theorem about small categories can be interpreted as a theorem about databases.  Maybe you've heard someone repeat Mac Lane's famous slogan "all concepts are Kan extensions."  In this talk, I'll give a high-level overview of/introduction to categorical database theory (developed by David Spivak) wherein Kan extensions play the role of regular every day database queries.  No familiarity with categories or databases will be assumed.
November 28 THANKSGIVING NONE NONE
December 5 Caroline Nunn Watch Caroline eat a donut: an introduction to Morse theory Morse theory has been described as "one of the deepest applications of differential geometry to topology." However, the concepts involved in Morse theory are so simple that you can learn them just by watching me eat a donut (and subsequently watching me give a 20 minute talk explaining Morse theory.) No background is needed beyond calc 3 and a passing familiarity with donuts.
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