Mathematics Colloquium

Calendar of upcoming talks available here

The Mathematics Colloquia is a series of talks by the Willamette University Math Department and visiting speakers. These talks are aimed at faculty and undergraduate math students and will introduce the audience to fun, interesting applications of undergraduate mathematics, as well as more advanced topics in mathematics research. Unless otherwise noted, Colloquium talks will be held Thursdays at 4:00pm in Ford Room 102. Refreshments will be provided. We hope you can join us! If you would like more information, please contact Prof. Erin McNicholas.

Colloquium Schedule 2011-2012

April 26th, Ford 102 4:00 - 5:00pm

Senior Seminar Presentations

Eric Knowles
Penny Auctions: Bidding Strategies in 2-Player Games
Penny auctions are a format of auction where each bid costs a fixed amount. The attraction to these auctions is that goods are won at much lower prices than retail value. So what happens if you find yourself in one of these auctions competing with just one other person? I will examine a 2 player game to find bidding behavior strategies. Analyzing this 2 person situation will reveal that these auctions can be won with strategy rather than luck.

Amanda Apple
A Game Theory Analysis on Crime and Punishment
The Prisoner’s Dilemma is one of the most popular and basic games in which game theorists have modified to create models for other possible situations. This talk will take you through an analysis of the best strategy to play in given situations. Initially, we will analyze two prisoners in jail and then adjust the assumptions to model public crime and police enforcement. Come find out how crime is affected by rewards and punishments. Ultimately, we look at the best strategy to reduce crime.

Abstracts Archive

Previous Spring 2012 Talks

April-

4/19 Hanna Bliden
Investing in Inequality? Education Subsidies and Income Inequality

4/12 Nicole Seaders, Visiting Professor of Mathematics
Using Group Theory to Generalize Diatonic and Pentatonic Scales

4/9 Francis Edward Su, Harvey Mudd College
Voting in Agreeable Societies

March-

3/15 Pete L. Clark, University of Georgia
From cockroaches to marriage via graph derangements

February-

Josh Laison, Associate Professor of Mathematics
Variations of Graph Pebbling

Previous Fall 2011 Talks

December-

Kristine Pelatt, University of Oregon
The Hairy Ball Theorem

November -

11/17 Erin McNicholas, Assistant Professor of Mathematics 
Spring Course Preview

11/10 Kathryn Nyman, Assistant Professor of Mathematics 
The Peak Algebra of the Symmetric Group

11/3 Colin Starr, Associate Professor of Mathematics
The Nine-Point Circle and Feuerbach's Theorem

October -

10/6 Michael Dorff, Department of Mathematics, Brigham Young University
Soap Bubbles, Shortest Paths, and When Does the Derivative of the Area Equal Perimeter?

10/7 Michael Dorff, Department of Mathematics, Brigham Young University
Toy Story 3, the “real” Iron Man Suit, and advising the President of the United States

September - 

9/29 Peter Otto, Willamette University
Mathematics of Mixing Things Up

9/22 Inga Johnson, Willamette University 
The Link Smoothing Game