The Rose Mathematics Seminar

Overview

The Rose-Hulman Mathematics Seminar meets on a regular basis throughout the year per the schedule below. The seminar is quite informal and so the topics are likely to vary from week to week .  Anyone --- student, faculty, or visitor --- is encouraged to give a talk or series of talks on any topic of interest.  We're especially happy to have students attend or better yet, give talks! Students can get credit for attending and giving talks, by signing up for MA450. For seminars in past years go to the seminar history page. Here is a printable campus map if needed by our off-campus visitors.

Also of interest: Here is the seminar page for our sister institution Indiana State University.

• Regular Day and Time (Winter 2010-11): Wednesday, period 7 - 1:35
• Place: G219
• Organizer: Dave Finn finn@rose-hulman.edu   (812) 877-8393

Current and Upcoming Schedule (latest first)

• Topic:  Algebra in Geometric Combinatorics
• Speaker:  Chris McDaniel
• Date:  19 Jan 2011
• Abstract:  Geometric combinatorics studies shapes or figures made up out of a finite number of pieces. Convex polytopes play a prominent role in this field of mathematics and, although their study dates back to antiquity, polytopes continue to serve as a rich source of problems for us even today. One basic problem is that of counting faces of convex polytopes. It turns out that numerical constraints on the number of faces a polytope can have can be gleaned (in the “simplest” cases) from algebraic properties of a certain ring associated with the polytope. In this talk, I will introduce convex polytopes and simple polytopes, showing several examples along the way. Then I will describe how to associate a ring to a simple polytope, and I will describe some important properties of this ring. Finally I will show you how these properties “classify” the number of faces that a simple polytope can have. More concretely, I will use this result to answer the following question: Does there exist a four dimensional convex polytope with 7 vertices, 14 edges, 13 two-dimensional faces, and 6 three-dimensional faces? Come and find out. The answer will shock and amaze you!

• Topic:  Using inverse functions to solve equations.
• Speaker:  E. Cabral Balreira, Trinity University
• Date:  03 Nov 2010
• Abstract:  We will discuss the problem of solving an equation as a functional problem in Mathematics. We shall observe that solving an equation entails finding the inverse of a map, a task that is generally difficult. Based on several applications from Economics, Geometry, and Differential Equations, we will show that a natural setting to answer such problems lies in Topology.

• Topic:  Combinatorial Structures with Prescribed Automorphism Groups
• Speaker:  Tanya Jajcay
• Date:  27 Oct 2010
• Abstract:  The concept of an automorphism group of a combinatorial structure is a fundamental concept in the cross-section of Combinatorics and Group Theory. Finding the automorphism group of a specific structure is a notoriously hard problem whose general complexity has not been resolved but it is believed to be exponential. In the talk, I will address the opposite problem of constructing a combinatorial structure for a given automorphism group. I will survey the known results for the classes of oriented and non-oriented graphs, outline the solution to this problem for the class of general combinatorial structures, and present a strategy for solving this problem for the class of hypergraphs. I will start from the basic concepts and present the theory through a series of examples so that the talk will be accessible to all mathematically minded students.
  For more information see Announcement/Abstract/Paper in PDF form

• Topic:  The Jacobsthal Subcube of the Hypercube
• Speaker:  Tom Langley and John Rickert
• Date:  20 Oct 2010
• Abstract: 
  For more information see Announcement/Abstract/Paper in PDF form