Weekly Colloquia, Dept. of Math., E.I.U.

Department of Mathematics

Schedule of Events - updated 9/17/98

Friday 9/18, 1:00 - Differential Geometry

Speaker: James Glazebrook
Topic: Families of Dirac Operators II
OM 316

Friday 9/18, 4:00 - Colloquium

Speaker: Gregory Galperin
Topic:Straight Lines and Curves
(a set of ideas on sets of points)
OM 215
Abstract: May a cubic cheese with holes be divided into disjoint convex polyhedral pieces with one hole in each piece? Can one launch a billiard ball from a point inside a circular table so that it will pass through another point on the table? These and some other questions which will be considered. Students are encouraged to attend

Wednesday 9/23, 3:00 - Algebra Seminar

Speaker: Charles Delman
Topic:Algorithms for the Braid Group IV
OM 316

Friday 9/25, 1:00 - Differential Geometry

Speaker: James Glazebrook
Topic: Families of Dirac Operators III
OM 316

Friday 9/25, 4:00 - Colloquium

Speaker: Ira Rosenholtz
Topic:Tangent Sequences, World Series Records, Pi,
and the Meaning of Life
OM 215
Abstract: An EIU Calc II student asked the question: does the infinite sum with terms of the form

a_n = tan(n)/n

a_n = tan(n)/n²

converge? A simpler question is: Do the terms of the series go to zero? And even here the answer is not obvious. This talk will discuss some answers and partial answetrs to these questions. If you like BIG NUMBERS (and I mean REALLY BIG NUMBERS!) then you might like this talk.