Moment generating functions (Laplace transforms) are a means for transforming probability problems into problems involving polynomials. Here I will concentrate on the binomial distribution, and use the mgf to link this distributions probabilities directly to the binomial theorem. The mgf is also a key ingredient in Chernoff bounds, which give upper bounds on the tail […]
In this talk we use the unit-graphs and the special unit-digraphs on matrix rings to show that every n x n nonzero matrix over F_q can be written as a sum of two SL_n-matrices when n>1. We compute the eigenvalues of these graphs in terms of Kloosterman sums and study their spectral properties; and prove […]
We consider sums in which an additive character of a finite field F is applied to a binomial whose individual terms (monomials) become permutations of F when regarded as functions. These Weil sums characterize the nonlinearity of power permutations of interest in cryptography. They also tell us about the correlation of linear recursive sequences over finite fields that are used […]
The classical Sperner - KKM (Knaster - Kuratowski - Mazurkiewicz) lemma has many applications in combinatorics, algorithms, game theory and mathematical economics. In this talk we consider generalizations of this lemma as well as Gale's colored KKM lemma and Shapley's KKMS theorem. It is shown that spaces and covers can be much more general and […]
We begin with a review of the Bateman—Horn conjecture, which sheds light on the intimate relationship between polynomials and prime numbers. In this expository talk, we survey a host of applications of the conjecture. For example, Landau’s conjecture, the twin prime conjecture, and the Green—Tao theorem are all consequences of the Bateman—Horn conjecture. Moreover, the […]
In this talk we will survey recent work on Niebzydowski Tribrackets and Niebrydowski Algebras, algebraic structures related to region colorings the planar complements of knots and trivalent spatial graphs.
Lattice valued vector systems have taken an important role in packing, coding, cryptography, and signal processing problems. In compressed sensing, improvements in sparse recovery methods can be reached with an additional assumption that the signal of interest is lattice valued, as demonstrated by A. Flinth and G. Kutyniok. Equiangular tight frames are particular systems of […]
Tight frames in Euclidean spaces are widely used convenient generalizations of orthonormal bases. A particularly nice class of such frames is generated as orbits under irreducible actions of finite groups of orthogonal matrices: these are called irreducible group frames. Integer spans of rational irreducible group frames form Euclidean lattices with some very nice geometric properties, […]
Given integers $k,l$ and a graph $G$, how large can be the fraction of $k$-vertex subsets of $G$ which span exactly $l$ edges? The systematic study of this very natural question was recently initiated by Alon, Hefetz, Krivelevich and Tyomkyn who also proposed several interesting conjectures on this topic. In this talk we discuss a theorem […]
An agent comes to a fork in a road. There is a sign that says that one of the two roads leads to prosperity and another to death. The agent must take the fork, but she does not know which road leads where. Does the agent have a strategy to get to prosperity? On one […]
Modular forms are ubiquitous in modern number theory. For instance, showing that elliptic curves are secretly modular forms was the key to the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. In addition to number theory, modular forms show up in diverse areas such as coding theory and particle physics. Roughly speaking, a modular form is a complex-valued […]
Chebotarev's theorem on roots of unity says that every minor of a discrete Fourier transform matrix of prime order is nonzero. We present a generalization of this result that includes analogues for discrete cosine and discrete sine transform matrices as special cases. This leads to a generalization of the Biro-Meshulam-Tao uncertainty principle to functions with […]
