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Sometimes Pi Equals 4 (Prof. Cornelia van Cott, University of San Francisco)
March 8, 2023 @ 4:15 pm - 5:30 pm
Title: Sometimes Pi Equals 4
Speaker: Cornelia van Cott, Department of Mathematics, University of San Francisco
Abstract: Most of your mathematical life, you’ve known that pi is a number somewhere between 3.1 and 3.2. But if we exchange the usual notion of distance in two-dimensional space for others, pi can be any of an infinite number of different values. What are these values? You’ll be surprised at the twists and turns we encounter when we head into these uncharted territories.
Cornelia Van Cott is a mathematics professor at the University of San Francisco. She earned her PhD from Indiana University in the area of geometric topology. Her undergraduate degree is from Wheaton College. Her current favorite work activity outside of teaching and research is doing something that combines these two things – student research projects.