Colloquium

Title: Experimental Knot Music Abstract: In knot theory, there are algebraic structures we can use to distinguish different types of knots and links. In this talk we will ask an […]

Title: Space vectors forming rational angles Abstract: We classify all possible configurations of vectors in three-dimensional space with the property that any two of the vectors form an angle whose […]

4:20 pm Title: Methodology of Global Sensitivity Analysis for Determination of Important Parameters in a Mathematical Model Presenter: An Do (CGU) 4:30 pm Title: Using Data Science to gain insights […]

4:20 Title: Nested Links, Linking Matrices, and Crushtaceans Presenter: Madeline Brown (Scripps) 4:30 Title: Computing Cube Decisions for Backgammon Endgame Positions Presenter: Mathus Leungpathomaram (HMC) 4:40 Title: The Limiting Spectral Measure for an Ensemble of Generalized Checkerboard Matrices Presenter: Jiahui Yu (Pomona) 4:50 Title: The Stationary Distribution of Recombination, Part I Presenters: Emma Kolesnik (Scripps), […]

4:20pm Title: Measuring Publication Bias in Foreign Language Editions of Russian State-Owned Media Company RT Presenter: Benjamin Figueroa (CMC) 4:30pm Title:Multilingual Emoticon Prediction of Tweets about COVID-19 Presenter: Stefanos Stoikos (Pomona), 4:40pm Title: Evaluating Word Embeddings on Low-Resource Languages Presenter: Nathan Stringham (Pomona), 4:50pm Title: An Epistemic Logic of Desires, Part I Presenters: Rui-Jie Yew […]

Title: A competent translation/a pitiful bungle: The Foundations of Geometry Abstract: David Hilbert’s Grundlagen der Geometrie is a rare example of a historical mathematics text that is still profitably read today and continues to inspire research in mathematics, computer science, and philosophy. The effort of publishing an English translation of Hilbert in 1902 involved a […]

Title: Unsolved Mathematics at Burning Man Abstract: Rising 12 feet tall with an 18-foot wingspan, a 2-ton unfolding dodecahedron comes to life at Burning Man, the world’s most influential large-scale sculpture showcase. The artwork is illuminated by 16,000 LEDs, requiring 6500 build-hours and $50,000 in donated funds, with an interior large enough to hold 15 […]

Title: Nonnegative Polynomials and Sums of Squares Abstract: Is x4-2x3+7x2-2x+1 nonnegative for any value of x? One way of showing that this holds is by writing x4-2x3+7x2-2x+1=1/2(x2-3x+1)2+1/2(x2+x+1)2. Studying the relationship between non-negativity and sums of squares has a distinguished history in mathematics starting with work of David Hilbert and Hilbert's 17th problem. I will discuss […]

Title: Injustice, Inequity, and Inequality: Lessons at the Intersection of Mathematics, Epidemiology, and Racism Registration information for this talk at: https://www.hmc.edu/mathematics/moody-lecture-series/ Abstract:The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed existing health inequities for communities of color in the United States. Racism is a known structural cause of these health inequities. Counterfactuals are essential to our understanding of causal […]

Title: Combinatorics and the Kitchen Sink Abstract: Numerical semigroups are simple combinatorial objects that lead to deep and subtle questions. We answer in one fell swoop virtually all asymptotic questions about factorization lengths in numerical semigroups. Surprisingly, this uses tools from complex, harmonic, and functional analysis, probability theory, algebraic combinatorics, and computer-aided design! Our results […]

Title: Training dynamical systems to predict their input Abstract: Evolved systems seem to predict their environment. Even bacteria can implicitly predict future concentrations of scarce sugar or antibiotics, and emerging evidence suggests that even our retinae are able to predict what we see. How? We explore some basic design principles for what causes a system […]

Title: Sea star locomotion Abstract: The oral surface of sea stars (starfish) is lined with arrays of tube feet that enable them to achieve highly controlled locomotion on various terrains and to even gallop and bounce. The activity of the tube feet is orchestrated by a nerve net that is distributed throughout the body; there […]