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  Is Math Real? How simple questions lead us to mathematics' deepest truths

  Eugenia Cheng

  Where does math come from: from rules in a textbook? From logic and deduction? Not quite. In this talk Eugenia Cheng will argue that math comes from human curiosity - most importantly, from asking questions. Many people are discouraged from asking these questions in school, thinking they’re too simple to be taken seriously, or being told that their questions are stupid. But often, these simple-sounding questions lead to wondrous mathematical revelations. Dr Cheng will take us on a journey of discovery starting with questions like "Why does 2x3 = 3x2?" and "What's the point of maths?", leading us into research-level abstract mathematics. The journey will take us via food, music, hair-styles, and other unexpected topics, revealing how profound insights can emerge from seemingly unlikely sources, and showing that being the kid who asked “But, why does 1+1=2?” could be more important than being the kid who always got the right answers.

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  Why Does Ramanujan, The Man Who Knew Infinity, Matter?

  Ken Ono

  Dr. Ken Ono is the Thomas Jefferson Professor of Mathematics at the University of Virginia, the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Mathematics at Emory University, and the vice president of the American Mathematical Society.He is an associate producer of the film The Man Who Knew Infinity starring Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons about Srinivasa Ramanujan, a self-trained two-time college dropout who left behind three notebooks filled with equations that mathematicians are still trying to figure out today. Ramanujan claimed that his ideas came to him as visions from an Indian goddess. This lecture is about why Ramanujan matters. The answers to this question extend far beyond the world of equations and formulas. Dr. Ono -- who specializes in number theory, especially in integer partitions, modular forms, moonshine, and the fields of interest to Srinivasa Ramanujan -- will share several clips from the film in the lecture, and will tell stories about the production and promotion of the film.

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  Mathemagics

  Arthur Benjamin

  Dr. Arthur Benjamin is the Smallwood Family Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. He is also a professional magician, and in his entertaining and fast-paced performance, Dr. Benjamin will demonstrate how to mentally add and multiply numbers faster than a calculator, how to figure out the day of the week of any date in history, and other amazing feats of mind.

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  Algebraic Complexity Theory

  Jerzy Weyman

  I will discuss the basic notions related to the complexity theory. The classes of P and NP problems will be defined, with examples given. Besides discussing the statements of the problems, I will talk about the effectiveness of algorithms used in linear algebra (multiplying matrices and solving the systems of linear equations). No previous knowledge of complexity theory will be assumed, however some knowledge of linear algebra (matrices and their multiplication) will be needed.

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  Primes and Zeros: A Million Dollar Mystery

  Brian Conrey

  A prime number is an integer greater than one whose only positive divisors are 1 and itself. In 1859 G. F. B. Riemann proposed a way to understand how the prime numbers are distributed among the natural numbers. More than 150 years later mathematicians still have not proven Riemann's Hypothesis. The stature of this problem has continued to rise so that today it is widely regarded as the most important unsolved problem in all of mathematics. In this talk I will describe some of the colorful history that surrounds this question.

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  Generic Special Objects

  Sławomir Solecki

  I will talk about mathematical objects that have two seemingly contradictory attributes. On the one hand, they are generic within a given class, in the sense that if most objects within the class have a property, then our object has it as well. So generic objects are common. On the other hand, they are very special if they exist, for example, there is always, in essence, at most one such object within a given class. Generic objects show up in various areas of mathematics, for example, in topology, geometry, and analysis. They tend to have astonishing mathematical features. Can you imagine a curve C with the property that if you cover it by the union of two curves C1 and C2, then either C1 or C2 must be equal to the whole C? There is a curve like that and it is one of the generic objects.

  Photo from the University of Illinois's Department of Mathematics

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  Geometry, Greed, Games, and 'Roids

  James Oxley

  A three-legged stool doesn’t wobble. But four-legged stools often teeter because the tips of their legs don’t lie in the same plane.

  This phenomenon of dependent sets, first theorized 75 years ago, is the focus of the 16th Dalrymple Lecture in Mathematics, set for 5:30 p.m. Friday (May 21) at the University of Mississippi. James Oxley, who holds an alumni professorship at Louisiana State University, is to deliver the address, which is free and open to the public in the Student Union Ballroom.

  “There is some beautiful and intriguing mathematics that arises from some natural problems in geometry and network theory,” Oxley said. “Moreover, this mathematics is accessible to anyone who has done high school geometry.”

  An internationally renowned mathematician from Australia, Oxley earned his doctoral degree from Oxford University. He has published more than 120 research papers in mathematics and authored the book “Matroid Theory,” considered the standard text in the field.

  Oxley plans to discuss geometry and network theory, as well as matroids, a common theory of dependence that applies to both.

  “Most people have a familiarity with games and their strategies,” said James Reid, UM professor of mathematics. “Dr. Oxley’s talk will show that games and these strategies have underlying mathematics, which unifies common concepts of games and geometry. He will illustrate applications of this mathematics to common real-world problems, such as constructing efficient computer networks.”

  Description written by Ole Miss News.

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  Random Graphs: From Paul Erdős to the Internet

  Michał Karoński

  Paul Erdős, one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century, was a champion of applications of probabilistic methods in many areas of mathematics, such as a graph theory, combinatorics and number theory. He also, almost fifty years ago, jointly with another great Hungarian mathematician Alfred Rényi, laid out foundation of the theory of random graphs: the theory which studies how large and complex systems evolve when randomness of the relations between their elements is incurred. In my talk I will sketch the long journey of this theory from the pioneering Erdős era to modern attempts to model properties of large real world networks which grow unpredictably, including the Internet, World Wide Web (WWW), peer-to-peer, social, neural and metabolic networks.

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  Cybersecurity, Mathematics, and Limits on Technology

  Andrew Odlyzko

  Ever more connected, the world’s population may continue to rely on the proverbial “chewing gum and bailing wire” for cyberspace security.

  So says Andrew Odlyzko, a University of Minnesota mathematician and former telecommunications researcher, who is slated to deliver the annual Dalrymple Lecture Thursday (April 2) at the University of Mississippi.

  “We will never attain a secure infrastructure,” Odlyzko said. “But a combination of technology and traditional tools of human society will prove adequate, and we are unlikely to face disaster.”

  Odlyzko’s lecture, “Cybersecurity, Mathematics and Limits on Technology,” starts at 6 p.m. in Butler Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.

  Odlyzko is founding director of the interdisciplinary Digital Technology Center at the University of Minnesota, and he served as interim director at the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute. Before joining academe, he devoted 26 years to research at Bell Telephone Laboratories, which later became AT&T Labs.

  “Dr. Odlyzko is a renowned mathematician,” said Iwo Labuda, UM mathematics chair. “We look forward to his expertise, and we hope a better appreciation and understanding for the field of mathematics will result from his lecture.”

  Odlyzko has authored more than 150 technical papers in computational complexity, cryptography, number theory, combinatorics, coding theory, analysis and probability theory, and he owns three patents. He is writing a book that compares the Internet bubble to the British Railway Mania of the 1840s and explores the implications for future technology diffusion.

  Description written by Ole Miss News.

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  Math in the Movies

  Tony DeRose

  Film making is undergoing a digital revolution brought on by advances in areas such as computer technology, computational physics, geometry, and approximation theory. Using numerous examples drawn from Pixar's feature films, this talk will provide a behind the scenes look at the role that math plays in the revolution.

  Tony DeRose is currently a Senior Scientist and lead of the Research Group at Pixar Animation Studios. He received a B.S. in Physics from the University of California, Davis, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. From 1986 to 1995 Dr. DeRose was a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. In 1998 he was a major contributor to the Oscar-winning short film “Geri's game”, in 1999 he received the ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award, and in 2006 he received an Academy Award for his work on surface representations.