Proposals
Below are some proposals for talks from the past (and current). By clicking on the ID number, more details are shown. By default, these are sorted chronologically (recent first) and by then by last name. The data can be sorted by alternate means by using the links at the top right, each allowing ascending or descending orders.
Displaying 141-160 of 471 results.
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ID:
511
Year: 2018
Name: Lindsay Erickson
Institution: Augustana University
Subject area(s): Graph Theory, Game Theory
Title of Talk: Edge-Nim on the $K_{2,n}$
Abstract: Edge-Nim is a combinatorial game played on finite regular graphs with positive, integrally weighted edges. Two players alternately begin from an initialized vertex and move to an adjacent vertex, decreasing the weight of the incident edge to a strictly non-negative integer as they travel across it. The game ends when a player is confronted by a position where no incident edge has a nonzero weight (or, that is to say, when the player is unable to move), in which case, this player loses. We characterize the winner of edge-Nim on the complete bipartite graphs, $K_{2,n}$ for all positive integers, $n$, giving the solution and complete strategy for the player able to win.
Year: 2018
Name: Lindsay Erickson
Institution: Augustana University
Subject area(s): Graph Theory, Game Theory
Title of Talk: Edge-Nim on the $K_{2,n}$
Abstract: Edge-Nim is a combinatorial game played on finite regular graphs with positive, integrally weighted edges. Two players alternately begin from an initialized vertex and move to an adjacent vertex, decreasing the weight of the incident edge to a strictly non-negative integer as they travel across it. The game ends when a player is confronted by a position where no incident edge has a nonzero weight (or, that is to say, when the player is unable to move), in which case, this player loses. We characterize the winner of edge-Nim on the complete bipartite graphs, $K_{2,n}$ for all positive integers, $n$, giving the solution and complete strategy for the player able to win.
ID:
260
Year: 2009
Name: Eric Errthum
Institution: Winona State University
Subject area(s): Number Theory
Title of Talk: A p-adic Euclidean Algorithm
Abstract: A brief introduction to the p-adic numbers will be given. Then a p-adic Division Algorithm and a p-adic Euclidean Algorithm will be defined in such a way that they mimic the classical algorithms. Lastly these methods are used to compute a generalized GCD and a p-adic simple continued fraction.
Year: 2009
Name: Eric Errthum
Institution: Winona State University
Subject area(s): Number Theory
Title of Talk: A p-adic Euclidean Algorithm
Abstract: A brief introduction to the p-adic numbers will be given. Then a p-adic Division Algorithm and a p-adic Euclidean Algorithm will be defined in such a way that they mimic the classical algorithms. Lastly these methods are used to compute a generalized GCD and a p-adic simple continued fraction.
ID:
495
Year: 2017
Name: Alli Ewald
Institution: Loras College
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: Matrix Rankings as Predictors of IIAC Basketball
Abstract: The largest sports betting event of the year in the United States is during the March Madness tournament. For my research project we are looking at different methods to predict the outcomes of the tournament. In this talk, I will discuss several matrix-based methods that we have considered and compare the accuracy of the predictions for each method at the end of the regular season to the outcome of the tournament for men’s Basketball in the IIAC.
Year: 2017
Name: Alli Ewald
Institution: Loras College
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: Matrix Rankings as Predictors of IIAC Basketball
Abstract: The largest sports betting event of the year in the United States is during the March Madness tournament. For my research project we are looking at different methods to predict the outcomes of the tournament. In this talk, I will discuss several matrix-based methods that we have considered and compare the accuracy of the predictions for each method at the end of the regular season to the outcome of the tournament for men’s Basketball in the IIAC.
ID:
245
Year: 2008
Name: Patsy Fagan
Institution: Drake University
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: Activities to Nspire College Algebra and Calculus
Abstract: This hands-on workshop will present activities for a College Algebra and Calculus class. This is for the novice user of the TI-Nspire CAS handheld.
Year: 2008
Name: Patsy Fagan
Institution: Drake University
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: Activities to Nspire College Algebra and Calculus
Abstract: This hands-on workshop will present activities for a College Algebra and Calculus class. This is for the novice user of the TI-Nspire CAS handheld.
ID:
246
Year: 2008
Name: Patsy Fagan
Institution: Drake University
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: Activities to Nspire College Algebra and Calculus
Abstract: This hands-on workshop will present activities for a College Algebra and Calculus class. This is for the novice user of the TI-Nspire CAS handheld. This is a repeat of the earlier session.
Year: 2008
Name: Patsy Fagan
Institution: Drake University
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: Activities to Nspire College Algebra and Calculus
Abstract: This hands-on workshop will present activities for a College Algebra and Calculus class. This is for the novice user of the TI-Nspire CAS handheld. This is a repeat of the earlier session.
ID:
30
Year: 2004
Name: Frank Farris
Institution: Santa Clara University and Editor of Mathematics Magazine
Subject area(s): Geometry
Title of Talk: The Edge of the Universe--Hyperbolic Wallpaper
Abstract: The universe couldn't have an edge, because if it did, you could go there, put your hand through and find more of the universe on the other side, right? This reasoning breaks down if you and your measuring devices shrink as you approach the edge, making it infinitely far away. We show a mathematical model of such a universe, called the Poincare Upper Halfplane, and study some of its features. The classical topic of circle inversion plays a prominent role. Physics suggests that this turns out to be a cold and lonely place, but we make beautiful wallpaper for the inhabitants.
Year: 2004
Name: Frank Farris
Institution: Santa Clara University and Editor of Mathematics Magazine
Subject area(s): Geometry
Title of Talk: The Edge of the Universe--Hyperbolic Wallpaper
Abstract: The universe couldn't have an edge, because if it did, you could go there, put your hand through and find more of the universe on the other side, right? This reasoning breaks down if you and your measuring devices shrink as you approach the edge, making it infinitely far away. We show a mathematical model of such a universe, called the Poincare Upper Halfplane, and study some of its features. The classical topic of circle inversion plays a prominent role. Physics suggests that this turns out to be a cold and lonely place, but we make beautiful wallpaper for the inhabitants.
ID:
31
Year: 2004
Name: Frank Farris
Institution: Santa Clara University and Editor of Mathematics Magazine
Subject area(s): Geometry
Title of Talk: Forbidden Symmetry: Relaxing the Crystallographic Restriction
Abstract: If you look at enough swatches of wallpaper, you will see centers of 2-fold, 3-fold, 4-fold, and 6-fold rotation. Why not 5-fold centers? They cannot occur, according to the Crystallographic Restriction, a fundamental result about wallpaper patterns, which are defined to be invariant under two linearly independent translations. Even so, we offer convincing pictures that appear to show wallpapers with 5-fold symmetry. The talk is intended to be accessible to students who know something about level curves in the plane and linear algebra.
Year: 2004
Name: Frank Farris
Institution: Santa Clara University and Editor of Mathematics Magazine
Subject area(s): Geometry
Title of Talk: Forbidden Symmetry: Relaxing the Crystallographic Restriction
Abstract: If you look at enough swatches of wallpaper, you will see centers of 2-fold, 3-fold, 4-fold, and 6-fold rotation. Why not 5-fold centers? They cannot occur, according to the Crystallographic Restriction, a fundamental result about wallpaper patterns, which are defined to be invariant under two linearly independent translations. Even so, we offer convincing pictures that appear to show wallpapers with 5-fold symmetry. The talk is intended to be accessible to students who know something about level curves in the plane and linear algebra.
ID:
283
Year: 2010
Name: Samuel Ferguson
Institution: University of Iowa
Subject area(s): Analysis, Teaching, Foundations
Title of Talk: Reals Revisited: NO SUP FOR YOU!
Abstract: Traditionally, first courses in analysis have started with certain axioms and then, in the course of deducing the consequences of these axioms, they prove the major theorems of calculus. The chief among these axioms is the "sup/least upper bound axiom," which seems obscure to most beginners. Where did such a thing come from, and how do we know that such a number system, satisfying such axioms, actually exists? Are the "reals" real? If teachers and students leave such questions unasked, they risk getting the impression that mathematics is just what happens when a somebody writes down a set of axioms and uses them to go on, in the words of Steven G. Krantz, "a magical mystery tour." Fortunately, in 1872 Dedekind and Cantor, independently and with different approaches, which have come to be known as the "Dedekind cut" approach to the "sup" and the "Cauchy sequence" approach to "completeness," constructed such real number systems, but their approaches are considered too complicated to present in their entirety at the beginning of most courses in analysis. In this talk, assisted by the intuition of Cauchy, Weierstrass, Courant, and others, we will give another (new?) construction of the reals, which has the advantages of both of the other constructions discussed and the complications of neither. Time permitting, the number "e" will be defined with this approach, or the Intermediate Value Theorem will be proved.
Year: 2010
Name: Samuel Ferguson
Institution: University of Iowa
Subject area(s): Analysis, Teaching, Foundations
Title of Talk: Reals Revisited: NO SUP FOR YOU!
Abstract: Traditionally, first courses in analysis have started with certain axioms and then, in the course of deducing the consequences of these axioms, they prove the major theorems of calculus. The chief among these axioms is the "sup/least upper bound axiom," which seems obscure to most beginners. Where did such a thing come from, and how do we know that such a number system, satisfying such axioms, actually exists? Are the "reals" real? If teachers and students leave such questions unasked, they risk getting the impression that mathematics is just what happens when a somebody writes down a set of axioms and uses them to go on, in the words of Steven G. Krantz, "a magical mystery tour." Fortunately, in 1872 Dedekind and Cantor, independently and with different approaches, which have come to be known as the "Dedekind cut" approach to the "sup" and the "Cauchy sequence" approach to "completeness," constructed such real number systems, but their approaches are considered too complicated to present in their entirety at the beginning of most courses in analysis. In this talk, assisted by the intuition of Cauchy, Weierstrass, Courant, and others, we will give another (new?) construction of the reals, which has the advantages of both of the other constructions discussed and the complications of neither. Time permitting, the number "e" will be defined with this approach, or the Intermediate Value Theorem will be proved.
ID:
208
Year: 2007
Name: James Fiedler
Institution: Iowa State University
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: On a Group Associated With Projective Planes
Abstract: A pair of orthogonal Latin squares of order n is equivalent to a permutation on the set of ordered pairs of integers 1, ..., n. Since a projective plane of order n exists if and only if there exists a set of n-1 mutually orthogonal Latin squares of order n, the group generated by the above permutations may be of some interest in the study of projective planes. Relevant definitions and results of some investigations concerning these groups will be presented.
Year: 2007
Name: James Fiedler
Institution: Iowa State University
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: On a Group Associated With Projective Planes
Abstract: A pair of orthogonal Latin squares of order n is equivalent to a permutation on the set of ordered pairs of integers 1, ..., n. Since a projective plane of order n exists if and only if there exists a set of n-1 mutually orthogonal Latin squares of order n, the group generated by the above permutations may be of some interest in the study of projective planes. Relevant definitions and results of some investigations concerning these groups will be presented.
ID:
274
Year: 2010
Name: A. M. Fink
Institution: Iowa State University
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: A New Look at IQ
Abstract: We will discuss the Isoperimetric Quotient for low order polygons. If time permits, we can illustrate its connection with some linear algebra and markov chains. There are some intriguing geometric open problems.
Year: 2010
Name: A. M. Fink
Institution: Iowa State University
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: A New Look at IQ
Abstract: We will discuss the Isoperimetric Quotient for low order polygons. If time permits, we can illustrate its connection with some linear algebra and markov chains. There are some intriguing geometric open problems.
ID:
40
Year: 2004
Name: a.m. fink
Institution:
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: The effect of philosophy on curriculum
Abstract: I wrote a history of the Iowa State Mathematics Department and discovered that the curriculum offered was very dependent on outside influences and the philosophy of eductation of the those outside influences.
Year: 2004
Name: a.m. fink
Institution:
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: The effect of philosophy on curriculum
Abstract: I wrote a history of the Iowa State Mathematics Department and discovered that the curriculum offered was very dependent on outside influences and the philosophy of eductation of the those outside influences.
ID:
121
Year: 2005
Name: A.M. Fink
Institution: Iowa State University
Subject area(s): elementary analysis
Title of Talk: The Strange Case of Shapiro's Inequality
Abstract: An old Monthly problem aroused the interest of 2 people with F.R. S. behind their name, spawned a Princeton thesis, but remains partly unsolved today. It is an interesting story about the culture of the mathematical community.
Year: 2005
Name: A.M. Fink
Institution: Iowa State University
Subject area(s): elementary analysis
Title of Talk: The Strange Case of Shapiro's Inequality
Abstract: An old Monthly problem aroused the interest of 2 people with F.R. S. behind their name, spawned a Princeton thesis, but remains partly unsolved today. It is an interesting story about the culture of the mathematical community.
ID:
382
Year: 2014
Name: a m fink
Institution: none
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: complex roots of polynomials and why it pays to talk mathematics
Abstract: For quadratic polynomials, a negative discriminant is a criteria for non real roots. Is there one for nth degree polynomials? Sure,and I found it because I talked to someone who pointed the way.
Year: 2014
Name: a m fink
Institution: none
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: complex roots of polynomials and why it pays to talk mathematics
Abstract: For quadratic polynomials, a negative discriminant is a criteria for non real roots. Is there one for nth degree polynomials? Sure,and I found it because I talked to someone who pointed the way.
ID:
388
Year: 2014
Name: Morgan Fonley
Institution: University of Iowa
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: Amplification and damping of an oscillating streamflow signal in a river network
Abstract: When river flow is observed under dry conditions (such as late summer), a daily fluctuation can be seen. Without the addition of precipitation, the source of these fluctuations is understood to be evapotranspiration of water from the riparian zone of trees near the river network. The flow at any point in the river network exhibits a time delay between the time of maximal evaporation (around midday) and the minimal streamflow. Several hypotheses suggest reasons for this time delay including different methods by which water moves through the soil. An alternative hypothesis is that the time delay instead comes from constructive and destructive interference that occurs when the oscillating flows of river links undergo different phase shifts and combine their signals. In this way, the flow at a downstream river link can be amplified or damped. I present an analytic solution to the transport equation, a linear ordinary differential equation that can be used to determine the flow at any point in a river network when all hillslopes are assumed to have uniform parameters. I use this solution to demonstrate the extent of amplification or damping that can occur when different parameter values are varied.
Year: 2014
Name: Morgan Fonley
Institution: University of Iowa
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: Amplification and damping of an oscillating streamflow signal in a river network
Abstract: When river flow is observed under dry conditions (such as late summer), a daily fluctuation can be seen. Without the addition of precipitation, the source of these fluctuations is understood to be evapotranspiration of water from the riparian zone of trees near the river network. The flow at any point in the river network exhibits a time delay between the time of maximal evaporation (around midday) and the minimal streamflow. Several hypotheses suggest reasons for this time delay including different methods by which water moves through the soil. An alternative hypothesis is that the time delay instead comes from constructive and destructive interference that occurs when the oscillating flows of river links undergo different phase shifts and combine their signals. In this way, the flow at a downstream river link can be amplified or damped. I present an analytic solution to the transport equation, a linear ordinary differential equation that can be used to determine the flow at any point in a river network when all hillslopes are assumed to have uniform parameters. I use this solution to demonstrate the extent of amplification or damping that can occur when different parameter values are varied.
ID:
467
Year: 2017
Name: Christopher Frayer
Institution: University of Wisconsin - Platteville
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: Geometry of Polynomials with Three Roots
Abstract: Given a complex-valued polynomials of the form p(z)=(z-1)^k (z-r_1 )^m (z-r_2 )^n with k,m,n in the natural numbers and r_1 and r_2 on the unit circle, where are the critical points located? The Gauss-Lucas Theorem guarantees that the critical points of such a polynomial will lie within the unit disk. We will further explores the location and structure of these critical points. Surprisingly, when m≠n, the unit disk contains two `desert' regions in which critical points cannot occur, and each c inside the unit disk and outside of the desert regions is the critical point of exactly two such polynomials. Special attention will be given to the development of geometric intuition and using GeoGebra to provide graphical illustrations.
Year: 2017
Name: Christopher Frayer
Institution: University of Wisconsin - Platteville
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: Geometry of Polynomials with Three Roots
Abstract: Given a complex-valued polynomials of the form p(z)=(z-1)^k (z-r_1 )^m (z-r_2 )^n with k,m,n in the natural numbers and r_1 and r_2 on the unit circle, where are the critical points located? The Gauss-Lucas Theorem guarantees that the critical points of such a polynomial will lie within the unit disk. We will further explores the location and structure of these critical points. Surprisingly, when m≠n, the unit disk contains two `desert' regions in which critical points cannot occur, and each c inside the unit disk and outside of the desert regions is the critical point of exactly two such polynomials. Special attention will be given to the development of geometric intuition and using GeoGebra to provide graphical illustrations.
ID:
240
Year: 2008
Name: James Freeman
Institution: Cornell College
Subject area(s): Teaching College
Title of Talk: Calculus: The 800 lb Gorilla in the Curriculum---Ideas from Cornell
Abstract: Even though there has been over 30 years of trying to keep the 800 lb gorilla (calculus) from dominating the room (collegiate level mathematics curriculum), the gorilla is still with us. Whether it is arguing about what and how calculus material is taught; what to do with over-prepared (high school calculus) and under-prepared students; and how to keep calculus from dominating the mathematics major in the zero sum game of available courses in most schools in Iowa, we all must deal with the gorilla. In this presentation, we will discuss two different answers to these questions currently being tried at Wartburg and Cornell and hopefully get a lively discussion going on what everyone is doing to control the gorilla. Cornell is following the lead of Grinnell and replaced our 4 sequence calculus offering with a two course sequence which covers several variable calculus in the second course.
Year: 2008
Name: James Freeman
Institution: Cornell College
Subject area(s): Teaching College
Title of Talk: Calculus: The 800 lb Gorilla in the Curriculum---Ideas from Cornell
Abstract: Even though there has been over 30 years of trying to keep the 800 lb gorilla (calculus) from dominating the room (collegiate level mathematics curriculum), the gorilla is still with us. Whether it is arguing about what and how calculus material is taught; what to do with over-prepared (high school calculus) and under-prepared students; and how to keep calculus from dominating the mathematics major in the zero sum game of available courses in most schools in Iowa, we all must deal with the gorilla. In this presentation, we will discuss two different answers to these questions currently being tried at Wartburg and Cornell and hopefully get a lively discussion going on what everyone is doing to control the gorilla. Cornell is following the lead of Grinnell and replaced our 4 sequence calculus offering with a two course sequence which covers several variable calculus in the second course.
ID:
303
Year: 2011
Name: Christopher French
Institution: Grinnell College
Subject area(s): Number theory and Combinatorics
Title of Talk: Catalan Numbers and Hankel Transformations
Abstract: We explore recurrence relations obtained from taking the Hankel transform of various linear combinations of Catalan numbers.
Year: 2011
Name: Christopher French
Institution: Grinnell College
Subject area(s): Number theory and Combinatorics
Title of Talk: Catalan Numbers and Hankel Transformations
Abstract: We explore recurrence relations obtained from taking the Hankel transform of various linear combinations of Catalan numbers.
ID:
48
Year: 2004
Name: Christopher French
Institution: Grinnell College
Subject area(s): Number Theory
Title of Talk: Fifth roots of Fibonacci Fractions
Abstract: The quotients of consecutive Fibonacci numbers converge to the golden ratio. In fact, the continued fraction expansion for such ratios consists of the nth truncation of the continued fraction expansion for the golden ratio. In a similar way, if F_n denotes the nth Fibonacci number, then the kth root of F_{n+k}/F_n converges to the golden ratio, and one can investigate the continued fraction expansion for these roots. Something rather remarkable happens when k=5.
Year: 2004
Name: Christopher French
Institution: Grinnell College
Subject area(s): Number Theory
Title of Talk: Fifth roots of Fibonacci Fractions
Abstract: The quotients of consecutive Fibonacci numbers converge to the golden ratio. In fact, the continued fraction expansion for such ratios consists of the nth truncation of the continued fraction expansion for the golden ratio. In a similar way, if F_n denotes the nth Fibonacci number, then the kth root of F_{n+k}/F_n converges to the golden ratio, and one can investigate the continued fraction expansion for these roots. Something rather remarkable happens when k=5.
ID:
119
Year: 2005
Name: Christopher French
Institution: Grinnell College
Subject area(s): convex geometry
Title of Talk: Graphs of Polytopes
Abstract: A polytope is a bounded intersection of half-spaces in R^n. The vertices and edges of a polytope form a graph. The graph of a 3 dimensional polytope is planar, since the surface of the polytope is homeomorphic to a sphere. It follows that such graphs cannot have K_5 minors. We generalize this fact, showing that graphs of n-dimensional polytopes cannot have K_{n+2} minors.
Year: 2005
Name: Christopher French
Institution: Grinnell College
Subject area(s): convex geometry
Title of Talk: Graphs of Polytopes
Abstract: A polytope is a bounded intersection of half-spaces in R^n. The vertices and edges of a polytope form a graph. The graph of a 3 dimensional polytope is planar, since the surface of the polytope is homeomorphic to a sphere. It follows that such graphs cannot have K_5 minors. We generalize this fact, showing that graphs of n-dimensional polytopes cannot have K_{n+2} minors.
ID:
163
Year: 2006
Name: Justin From
Institution: Central College
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: The Polynomial Root Squeezing Theorem
Abstract: Polynomials are one of the most widely used functions in mathematics, yet there are surprisingly many unanswered questions about their properties. This talk will present an innovative new idea referred to as the Polynomial Root Squeezing Theorem which shows that squeezing two of a polynomial
Year: 2006
Name: Justin From
Institution: Central College
Subject area(s):
Title of Talk: The Polynomial Root Squeezing Theorem
Abstract: Polynomials are one of the most widely used functions in mathematics, yet there are surprisingly many unanswered questions about their properties. This talk will present an innovative new idea referred to as the Polynomial Root Squeezing Theorem which shows that squeezing two of a polynomial