This GEMS session will be facilitated by Professor Lenny Fukshansky from Claremont McKenna College. Title: From Knapsacks and Changing Coins to Geometry Abstract: Suppose you have a bag that can hold a fixed amount of weight, and you are trying to fill it with several types of objects of different weights and prices. The goal is to […]
This GEMS session will be facilitated by Professor David Bachman from Pitzer College. Title: How does ChatGPT work? Abstract: In 2022 ChatGPT took the world by storm and challenged our ideas of what computers are capable of. However, few people have any sense of how this technology works. Through hands-on activities participants will learn about […]
TOPIC: The Mathematics of Reapportionment and Census Data Every ten years, the United States Census Bureau conducts a count of all persons living in the United States; one of those population counts will be carried out this year (2020). This Census is mandated by the US Constitution; it counts all people residing in the United […]
TOPIC: Superheroes vs. Supercomputers Superheroes like Wonder Woman, Black Panther, Superman, and Captain Marvel, just to name a few, all have "super" power and they save the world from "super"-villains. Well, just one catch--they are not real. In our real world, there are computers built for super power to save the (real) world. In this […]
TOPIC: Working Together without a Leader Bees all work together by communicating and obeying the orders of the Queen. Other animals gather in swarms, flocks, or schools and move in complicated ways without any leader at all. In a school of fish, each one is identical and they all follow the same simple rules. Yet they still […]
TOPIC: The Mathematics of Information We are surrounded by information. Words in books, ones and zeros in computers, mathematical equations, and DNA sequences are all examples of information, but can we say something more about it? In this workshop, we will learn about the mathematics of information, see how it is related to concepts from […]
