Math 382 – Seminar

Spring, 2012

Th 2:30-3:45 Votey 223

Main Course Information

This course is a seminar intended for graduate students in mathematics and related fields. Lectures will rotate through the students. Students are required to attend all classes and do any assigned homework; there are no exams.

The topic this semester is “Thirty-three miniatures: mathematical and algorithmic applications of linear algebra.” Here is the link to the book. It is also available from Amazon. A short list of errata is online.

Click for a handout about the singularity of certain matrices relevant to Kyler’s Feb 2 presentation. A handout about eigenvalues of real symmetric matrices proves a result used in several miniatures.

Other Links

· Dan Archdeacon’s home page

· Dept. of Math. & Stat.’s home page

· Registrar’s home page

Schedule

Jan 19: Discuss the course & decide on a topic

Jan 26: Jon Kaptcianos – Fibonacci Numbers, Quickly. Fibonacci Numbers, the Formula.

Feb 2: Kyler Star – The Clubs of Oddtown. Same Size Intersection.

Feb 9: Nick Jones – Error-Correcting Codes.

Feb 16: Francis Ofori – Odd Distances. Are These Distances Euclidean?

Feb 23: Jonathan Godbout – Packing Complete Bipartite Graphs. Equiangular Lines.

Mar 1: Kaitlyn Gecsedi – Where is the Triangle? Checking Matrix Multiplication.

Mar 8: Spring Break

Mar 15: Amy Walman – Tiling a Rectangle by Squares. Three Petersens are not Enough.

Mar 22: Paul Lessard – Petersen, Hoffman-Singleton, and Maybe 57. Only Two Distances.

Mar 29: Ryan Stewart – Covering a Cube Minus One Vertex. Medium Size Intersection is Hard to Avoid.

From here on 2 speakers per class, one section each.

Apr 5: Jonathan Godbout – Counting Spanning Trees.

Apr 12: Jon Kaptcianos – The End of the Small Coins. Amy Walman – Perfect Matchings and Determinants. Kaitlyn Gecsedi – How Many Ways Can a Man Tile a Board?

Apr 19: Kyler Star – Is It Associative? Ryan Stewart – Counting Compositions.

Apr 26: Francis Ofori – Equilateral Sets. Paul Lessard – Rotating the Cube.