Department of Mathematics

West Chester University

Mathematics Information
Office: Room 101
25 University Avenue
West Chester, PA 19383
Phone (610) 436-2440
Fax (610) 738-0578
Email: Department Chair


Spring 2013 Colloquium/Seminar Schedule

Each Thursday there will be a mathematics seminar (usually in UNA 120 from 3:15-4:15), while colloquium talks will normally be on a Wednesday (usually in UNA 158 from 3:15-4:15).

These seminars/colloquium talks may be by visiting speakers, WCU faculty, or WCU students, and are open to all interested students and faculty.

Send an e-mail to jmclaughl@wcupa.edu, if you would like to be on the e-mail list to receive advance notice of upcoming talks.

Previous Semesters:Fall 2012, Spring 2012, Fall 2011, Spring 2011, Fall 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2009, Spring 2009, Fall 2008, Spring 2008, Fall 2007, Spring 2007, Fall 2006, Summer 2006, Spring 2006,

West Chester University
Spring 2013 Mathematics Colloquium presents
PETER SCHUMER
Middlebury College

"Patterns in Pascal's Triangle"
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 from 3:15 to 4:15PM
UNA 155

In 1653, Blaise Pascal published his "Treatise on the Arithmetical Triangle" which included a description of his eponymous triangle together with some applications to algebra, combinatorics, and probability. Since that time, a great deal more of its structure has been discovered and analyzed. In this talk we will investigate some of the fascinating patterns contained within this arithmetic triangle.

Peter Schumer is the Baldwin Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Middlebury College. He earned his B.S. and M.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and earned his Ph.D. from University of Maryland, College Park. His areas of interest are elementary and analytic number theory, history of mathematics, and combinatorics. He has written two books, Introduction to Number Theory (PWS) and Mathematical Journeys (Wiley) and many articles in the areas listed above. He is the recipient of The Trevor Evans Award of the MAA for the article, "The Magician of Budapest" that appeared in Math Horizons. His other academic interest is playing and promoting the game of go (have played in 17 U.S. Opens and countless smaller tournaments). He has had sabbaticals at UCSD, Stanford, San Jose State U., Doshisha Univ. in Kyoto, and Keio Univ. in Tokyo. He has taught courses on mathematics and on the game of go in Kyoto, Japan and Shanghai, China.

For further information e-mail mfisher@wcupa.edu or sgupta@wcupa.edu

 

West Chester University
Spring 2013 Mathematics Colloquium
presents
MARC CHAMBERLAND
Grinnell College

“The Computer's Role in Mathematical Discovery and Proof”
Wednesday, April 10, 2013 from 3:15 to 4:15PM
UNA 155

The use of computer packages has brought us to a point where the computer can be used for many tasks: discover new mathematical patterns and relationships, create impressive graphics to expose mathematical structure, falsify conjectures, confirm analytically derived results, and perhaps most impressively for the purist, suggest approaches for formal proofs. This is the thrust of experimental mathematics. This talk will give some examples to discover or prove results concerning geometry, integrals, binomial sums, dynamics and infinite series.

Marc Chamberland obtained his PhD from the University of Waterloo in 1995. He joined Grinnell College in 1997 where he is now the Myra Steele Professor of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. He has published over 40 articles in the areas of differential equations, dynamical systems, and number theory and has spoken about his research in several countries. He is a strong advocate of using computers in mathematical research and has developed an NSF-supported, upper-level, undergraduate course in Experimental Mathematics. Outside of mathematics, he enjoys time with his family (with three children), biking, and meditation.


For further information e-mail mfisher@wcupa.edu or sgupta@wcupa.edu

 

West Chester University
Spring 2013 Mathematics Colloquium
presents
CARL POMERANCE
Dartmouth College

“Sums and Products”
Wednesday, April 24, 2013 from 3:15 to 4:15PM
UNA 155

What could be simpler than to study sums and products of integers? Well maybe it is not so simple since there is a major unsolved problem: For arbitrarily large numbers N, is there a set of N positive integers where the number of pairwise sums is at most N1.99 and likewise, the number of pairwise products is at most N1.99? Erdös and Szemerédi conjecture no. This talk is directed at another problem concerning sums and products, namely how dense can a set of positive integers be if it contains none of its pairwise sums and products? For example, take the numbers that are 2 or 3 more than a multiple of 5, a set with density 2/5. Can you do better? This talk reports on recent joint work with P. Kurlberg and J. C. Lagarias.

Carl Pomerance received his B.A. from Brown University in 1966 and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1972 under the direction of John Tate. During the period 1972—99 he was a professor at the University of Georgia, with visiting positions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Limoges, Bell Communications Research, and the Institute for Advanced Study. In the period 1999—2003 he was a Member of the Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories. Currently he is the John G. Kemeny Parents Professor of Mathematics at Dartmouth College and Research Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia.

A number theorist, Pomerance specializes in analytic, combinatorial, and computational number theory, with applications in the field of cryptology. He considers the late Paul Erdös as his greatest influence.

Pomerance was an invited speaker at the 1994 International Congress of Mathematicians, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Pólya Lecturer for 1993--95, and the MAA Hedrick Lecturer in 1999. More recently he was the Rademacher Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania in 2010. He has won the Chauvenet Prize (1985), the Haimo Award for Distinguished Teaching (1997), and the Conant Prize (2001).

He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and of the American Mathematical Society. He is the president of the Number Theory Foundation, a past vice president of the MAA and past chair of the Mathematics Section of the AAAS. He is the author of nearly 200 published papers and one book.

For further information e-mail mfisher@wcupa.edu or sgupta@wcupa.edu

Note: Talks will be added to the schedule throughout the semester. Check back for updates.