Mathematical Association of America
Rocky Mountain Section Meeting
April 8 and 9, 2011
Department of Mathematics
University of Colorado at Boulder
PLEASE NOTE: online registration ends 5PM Mountain Time, Wednesday, April 6.
Invited Talks
Here are titles and abstracts of the invited presentations at this year's MAA RMS meeting.
Friday
| 1:10-1:55 | Burton W. Jones Teaching Award Lecture (BESC 185) Eric Stade, University of Colorado at Boulder |
| FT's, DFT's, and FFT's, or: Joe Fourier and the Birth of Disco |
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| The Fourier Transform (FT) is a mathematical device for measuring frequency content. The Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) provides a means of analyzing frequency content numerically. In 1965, the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm was popularized. Its advent revolutionized numerical analysis of frequency content. Less than ten years later, civilization as we know it was radically transformed again, this time by the emergence of disco. Coincidence? Come to the talk and find out. |
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| 4:45-5:45 | Friday Keynote Address (MATH 100) Edward Burger Professor of Mathematics and Lissack Professor for Social Responsibility and Personal Ethics Williams College Robert Foster Cherry Professor for Great Teaching Baylor University |
| Planting your roots in the natural numbers:
A rational and irrational look at 1, 2, 3, 4, ... Some people see magical features in the famous Fibonacci numbers and the alluring golden ratio phi. But what if you replace the phamous phi with your phavorite obscure quadratic irrational real number? Is the magic still there? Here in 1 hour, 2 examples, 3 theorems, and 4 acts we'll consider these questions, highlight their history, and share some recent insights that will transfigure the magic into mathematics. Revealing any more here would be simply ab-surd. |
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| 7:15-8:00 | Banquet Address (St. Julien Hotel) Joseph W. Dauben Distinguished Professor Department of History, Herbert H. Lehman College, CUNY Ph.D. Program in History, The Graduate Center, City University of New York Writing Biographies: Mathematicians as Historical Subjects The author has written two biographies of well-known mathematicians, both of whom engaged the infinite in their research in very different ways. Georg Cantor created transfinite set theory that some have regarded as revolutionizing mathematics at the end of the nineteenth century, whereas some mathematicians still worry about the foundations of mathematics in the aftermath of his work. In the last century, Abraham Robinson used subtle techniques of model theory to create nonstandard analysis, rehabilitating the infinitesimal which even Cantor had thought was too contradictory to ever be permitted in rigorous mathematics. Writing the biographies of these two very different individuals in time and place posed a number of challenges that I will discuss both in terms of how Cantor and Robinson sought to promote their controversial theories, and how their personalities also affected the work they did. |
Saturday
| 11:30-12:30 | MAA Keynote Speaker (DUAN G130) Frank A. Farris Past Editor, Mathematics Magazine Santa Clara University The Gini Index and Measuring Inequality The Gini index is a summary statistic that measures how equitably a resource is distributed in a population; income is a primary example. In addition to a self-contained presentation of the Gini index, we give two equivalent ways to interpret this summary statistic: first in terms of the percentile level of the person who earns the average dollar, and second in terms of how the lower of two randomly chosen incomes compares, on average, to mean income. |
For more information, please contact Eric Stade or Rob Tubbs