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 (Fall 2009-10): Wednesday, period 7 1:35 - 2:25
• Place: G222
• Organizer: Kurt Bryan bryan@rose-hulman.edu   (812) 877-8485

Current and Upcoming Schedule (latest first)

• Topic:  Actuary: The Best Job in the World
• Speaker:  Phil Banet, Allstate - Rose math alumnus
• Date:  04 Nov 2009
• Abstract:  Ever wanted to know more about being an actuary? Not sure what it is? It’s only one of the highest rated jobs in the country. Please join us Wednesday, November 4, at the Mathematics Colloquium to hear more from a practicing actuary with Allstate Insurance Company who just happens to also be a graduate of Rose-Hulman. Phil Banet has been an actuary since he graduated from Rose in 1991. He’ll be discussing his experiences as well as how Rose helped prepare him for this fascinating career.

• Topic:  Classical Markov Logic and Network Analysis
• Speaker:  Ralph Wojtowicz and Geoff Ulman,, Metron Inc
• Date:  07 Oct 2009
• Abstract:  Markov logic is a set of techniques for estimating the probabilities of truth values of formulae written in first-order languages. In network analysis applications, the formulae describe properties of and relationships or links among entities. The truth values tell if an entity has a property or whether or not a link exists. The networks may involve many different sorts of entities and types of links. Estimates are based on the values specified in training and test data. We refer to the special case involving two truth values as classical Markov logic. Data in this case must assign either ‘false’ or ‘true’ to all (closed) formulae. In practical applications, however, we may have limited confidence in some information sources or data values. To model such uncertainties, we generalize Markov logic in order to allow non-classical sets of truth values. The concepts and methods of category theory give precise guidelines for selecting sets of truth values based on the form of a network model. We plan to give an overview of Markov logic; discuss applications to alias detection, cargo shipping, insurgency analysis, and social network analysis; and describe open problems.

• Topic:  Moment Convergence Rates and Method of Moments Central Limit Theorems via Induction
• Speaker:  Mark Inlow
• Date:  30 Sep 2009
• Abstract:  In 1965 von Bahr proved that the difference between each finite moment of the sample mean and the corresponding normal moment is O(n^{-1/2}) by appealing to results by Esseen, Loeve, and Cramer. We present two proofs of his result using only elementary properties of expectation plus mathematical induction. Since the normal distribution is determined by its moments, if all moments of the sample mean exist then, by a converse of the second limit theorem, it is asymptotically normal. Thus our results also provide simple versions of Markov's 1898 method of moments central limit theorem.

• Topic:  Roll-ups and Differential Geometry
• Speaker:  S. Allen Broughton
• Date:  16 Sep 2009
• Abstract:  We all know that cylinders and (frustums of) right cones can be formed by rolling up a flat strip of paper, metal, plastic, or other flexible material. In fact there are pictures of such "roll-ups" in Calculus books. However, what happens when we do not have such a standard cone shape? What region do we cut out of the paper or metal to achieve a desired cone shape? The problem started as a phone call from a local manufacturing design company who had to solve this problem. They wanted to build a specific shape but did not know what the flattened out shape would be. Since their plan was to build the part from a flattened sheet of metal, the answer to the roll-up problem was crucial. In this talk we discuss the geometry problem and show a solution using the techniques of differential geometry. The techniques are not advanced, in fact everything can be done with multi-variable Calculus and the simple separation of variables in Differential Equations. The time for the talk does not allow for a complete discussion of the "ghastly derivations" but we will discuss the formulas that allow us to solve the practical problem. The formulas can be evaluated using numerical integration (Calculus II) and we show the flattened out shape form the given problem. For those interested in full details see the technical report at http://www.rose-hulman.edu/math/MSTR/MSTRpubs/2009/RHIT-MSTR-2009-01.pdf