September 5
Speaker: Prof. Ed Swartz 

Title: Poyltopes and Patterns
Abstract: We will count the vertices, edges and faces of n-sided polygons, a cube, a tetrahedron, an octahedron, and many other polytopes.  We will see what patterns arise, and discuss how geometry can be used to prove those properties in general.  If time permits, we may talk about origami and polytopes.

September 12
Speaker: Kristine Jones
Title: A Mathematical Card Trick

Abstract: We will look at a certain class of "find the card"-type tricks in the context of cycles and fixed-points.

September 19

Speaker: Kathryn Lindsey

Title: The Joy of Julia Sets

Abstract: Julia sets are a type of fractal which arise when studying dynamical systems.  We will look at examples of Julia sets and share a recipe for how to "cook up" Julia sets in different shapes.

September 26

Speaker: Ana Rita Pires

Title: There's Some Math in My Origami

Abstract:  If you unfold an origami model, you get a piece of paper with lots of creases on it.  But given a crease pattern on a piece of paper, when can you fold it into a flat origami model?  I'll count angles, and lines, and fold things, and there will be many pictures.

October 3, No Talk

In lieu of a tiny talk this week, there will be a discussion about math graduate school aimed at sophomores and juniors, led by Prof. Reyer Sjamar and Melissa Totman, the Director of Graduate Studies and Graduate Field Assistant for the Cornell Math Department.

October 10

Speaker: Radoslav Zlatev

Title: Informally on Curves

Abstract: Curves, so easy to think about naively, are intricate to define.  Basic properties such as smoothness and dimension are tough to define throughout math, even with the use of linear algebra.

October 17

Speaker: Voula Collins

Title: English Bell Ringing from a Mathematical Perspective

Abstract: Change ringing is a type of bell ringing originating in England that involves ringing sets of bells in all of their permutations.  We will discuss how this can be modeled as a graph theory problem.

October 24

Speaker: Prof. Allen Knutson

Title: Placing Pretty Puzzle Pieces

Abstract: I'll talk about a tiling problem of an equilateral triangle using two kinds of puzzle pieces.  Each resulting puzzle induces a labeling of the boundary of the big triangle, and the main questions are, which boundaries can arise, and how many different ways?  These numbers turn out to have amazing multiplicative and recursive properties.

October 31

Speaker: Prof. Tara Holm

Title: Topology and Trousers

Abstract: Topologists are mathematicians who cannot distinguish a coffee cup from a doughnut.  I will illustrate the kinds of problems topologists like to solve, and some of the invariants they might use to do so.  I will conclude with an answer to the age-old questions, "Can you turn your trousers inside out without taking them off?"

November 7

Speaker: Prof. Mike Stillman

Title: Cool Computations with Cubic Curves

Abstract: I will talk about the group law on elliptic curves (cubic plane curves) and finding rational solutions too.

November 14

Speaker: Rodrigo Trevino

Title: Burritos and Bouncy Billiards

November 21, no meeting

November 28, TBA