Past Dinner Meetings

2003 Dinner Meetings

• College of the Holy Cross, April 2, 2003
• Framingham State College, April 17, 2003
• Providence College, April 24, 2003
• Sacred Heart University, April 30, 2003

College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts

The Tenth Leonard C. Sulski Memorial Lecture

Kathleen Shannon, Salisbury University
"Pascal's Triangle, Cellular Automata and Serendipity: A Mathematical Tale"

Wednesday, April 2, 2003

Abstract: The talk will outline the development of the PascGalois Project. Its origins are in an exercise using Pascal's Triangle and modular arithmetic. Colors are assigned to the numbers 0,1,...,n-1, and Pascal's Triangle modulo n is drawn. The patterns in the triangle are then related to the properties of the cyclic group Z_n. The process of drawing the triangles is then generalized to non-cyclic and non-abelian groups and the new patterns are examined in light of the properties of these groups. The images can help develop visual and intuitive understanding of concepts such as subgroup closure and quotient groups. Finally we view Pascal's Triangle as a one-dimensional cellular automata and generalize to more general initial conditions and two dimensional automata. Many of the investigations in this project have been undertaken with students in undergraduate research projects and one outgrowth of the project has been the development of a set of visualization exercises to supplement the standard undergraduate course in abstract algebra. The PascGalois Project is supported by the National Science Foundation and by the Richard A. Henson endowment for the School of Science at Salisbury University.

Framingham State College, Framingham, MA

NES/MAA Regional Dinner Meeting in Memory of Kenneth J. Preskenis

Speakers:
Dr. Andrew Browder, Brown University
and
Dr. John Wermer, Brown University

Thursday, April 17, 2003

Kenneth J. Preskenis: A dedicated teacher committed to excellence, a serious scholar, a popular son of South Boston, and a gentleman Ken Preskenis died on Thanksgiving Day, 2002. Ken had a passion for mathematics and for sharing that love with others, especially youngsters. A relentless pursuer of knowledge, he was a regular participant at the weekly seminars in functional analysis at Brown University where he earned his M.S. in 1967 and his Ph.D. in 1971. He joined the faculty at Framingham State College in 1977 after teaching at Newton College and then at Boston College for a total of 14 years. Ken was the author of a number of articles in analysis and mathematics education, a regular attendee and contributor at MAA/NES meetings, a South Boston Athletic Hall of Famer, and a recipient of the Michael E. Glynn South Boston Community Service Award.

Please join us as we honor the memory of our dear friend and colleague Kenneth J. Preskenis.

Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island

Dr. Bruce Burdick, Roger Williams University
"Mathematicians Square Off---
Latin American Voices in the Worldwide Comet Debate of the 1680's"

Thursday, April 24, 2003

Abstract: The skies of the seventeenth century were rich in spectacular comets, and each new one brought about a host of printed responses, mostly in Europe and to a lesser extent in the Americas. This phenomenon peaked after the great comet of 1680/81. Two individuals, Carlos de Siguenza y Gongora and Francisco Eusebio Kino, were among the writers who argued in print about this comet. Both were highly trained mathematicians and published their work in Mexico. Kino used Euclid's geometry to support his claim that the comet was a warning of dire events to come; Siguenza replied with a more modern point of view and made much use of spherical trigonometry in his work. Both of these figures are well known for their other accomplishments, but these works have not always been given due attention, either in lists of mathematical works in the Americas or in the context of the worldwide comet debate.

Biography: Dr Burdick did his undergraduate work in mathematics and philosophy at Heidelberg College, Tiffin, Ohio. His Masters and Ph.D. are from the Ohio State University. He has been teaching at Roger Williams University since 1990. He spends part of each summer researching in Latin America.

Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Connecticut

Dr. C. Edward Sandifer, Western Connecticut State University
"Stopping Between the Integers - How Euler Interpolated Partial Sums"

Wednesday, April 30, 2003

Abstract: Leonhard Euler, a contemporary of Benjamin Franklin, was the 18th Century's greatest mathematician and scientist. His brilliance is best appreciated, like great art, by examining some of its details. It is easy to understand what it means to sum the first five terms of the harmonic series:

1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/4 + 1/5.

What would it mean to sum the first one and a half terms? Euler's answer led him to discover the Gamma function, and also turned out to be a key step in his first great breakthrough, the solution of the Basel Problem.

Maintained by Tommy Ratliff tratliff@wheatoncollege.edu
Last modified Monday June 25, 2007 12:30 PM , MAA Disclaimer