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The AMS Student Chapter Seminar is an informal, graduate student-run seminar on a wide range of mathematical topics. Pastries (usually donuts) will be provided.
The AMS Student Chapter Seminar (aka Donut Seminar) is an informal, graduate student seminar on a wide range of mathematical topics. The goal of the seminar is to promote community building and give graduate students an opportunity to communicate fun, accessible math to their peers in a stress-free (but not sugar-free) environment. Pastries (usually donuts) will be provided.


* '''When:''' Wednesdays, 3:30 PM – 4:00 PM
* '''When:''' Wednesdays, 3:30 PM – 4:00 PM
* '''Where:''' Van Vleck, 9th floor lounge (unless otherwise announced)
* '''Where:''' Van Vleck, 9th floor lounge (unless otherwise announced)
* '''Organizers:''' Daniel Hast, Ryan Julian, Cullen McDonald, Zachary Charles
* '''Organizers:''' [https://people.math.wisc.edu/~ywu495/ Yandi Wu], Maya Banks


Everyone is welcome to give a talk. To sign up, please contact one of the organizers with a title and abstract. Talks are 30 minutes long and should avoid assuming significant mathematical background beyond first-year graduate courses.
Everyone is welcome to give a talk. To sign up, please contact one of the organizers with a title and abstract. Talks are 25 minutes long and should avoid assuming significant mathematical background beyond first-year graduate courses.


The schedule of talks from past semesters can be found [[AMS Student Chapter Seminar, previous semesters|here]].
The schedule of talks from past semesters can be found [[AMS Student Chapter Seminar, previous semesters|here]].


== Fall 2016 ==
== Fall 2021 ==


=== October 12, Soumya Sankar ===
=== September 29, John Cobb ===


Title: Primes of certain forms and covering systems
Title: Rooms on a Sphere


Abstract: A lot of classical questions revolve around primes of the form 2^n + k, where k is an odd integer. I will talk about such primes, or the lack thereof, and use this to convert coffee into covering systems. Time permitting, I'll talk about a few cool results and conjectures related to the notion of covering systems.
Abstract: A classic combinatorial lemma becomes very simple to state and prove when on the surface of a sphere, leading to easy constructive proofs of some other well known theorems.


=== October 19, Daniel Hast ===
=== October 6, Karan Srivastava ===


Title: A combinatorial lemma in linear algebra
Title: An 'almost impossible' puzzle and group theory


Abstract: I'll talk about a fun little lemma in linear algebra and its combinatorial interpretation. (It might be "well-known" to someone, but I'd never heard of it before.) If there's time, I'll discuss some possible generalizations.
Abstract: You're given a chessboard with a randomly oriented coin on every square and a key hidden under one of them; player one knows where the key is and flips a single coin; player 2, using only the information of the new coin arrangement must determine where the key is. Is there a winning strategy? In this talk, we will explore this classic puzzle in a more generalized context, with n squares and d sided dice on every square. We'll see when the game is solvable and in doing so, see how the answer relies on group theory and the existence of certain groups.


=== October 26, Brandon Alberts ===
=== October 13, John Yin ===


Title: An Introduction to Matroids
Title: TBA


Abstract: What if you wanted to do linear algebra, but couldn't use addition or scalar multiplication? Can we still have a notion of independence and bases? The answer is yes, and these are called matroids. Not only will I introduce matroids, but I will give an example that shows not all matroids arise from vector spaces.
Abstract: TBA


=== November 2, Vlad Matei ===
=== October 20, Varun Gudibanda ===


Title: Hadamard Matrices
Title: TBA


Abstract: A Hadamard matrix is a square matrix whose entries are either +1 or −1 and whose rows are mutually orthogonal. The most important open question in the theory of Hadamard matrices is that of existence. The Hadamard conjecture proposes that a Hadamard matrix of order 4k exists for every positive integer k. The Hadamard conjecture has also been attributed to Paley, although it was considered implicitly by others prior to Paley's work.
Abstract: TBA


=== November 9, David Bruce ===
=== October 27, Andrew Krenz ===


Title: Some Numbers Are Sometimes Bigger Than Others (Sometimes...)
Title: The 3-sphere via the Hopf fibration


Abstract: I will write down two numbers and show that one of them is larger than the other.
Abstract: The Hopf fibration is a map from $S^3$ to $S^2$.  The preimage (or fiber) of every point under this map is a copy of $S^1$.  In this talk I will explain exactly how these circles “fit together” inside the 3-sphere.  Along the way we’ll discover some other interesting facts in some hands-on demonstrations using paper and scissors.  If there is time I hope to also relate our new understanding of $S^3$ to some other familiar models.


=== November 16, Solly Parenti ===


Title: The Congruent Number Problem
=== November 3, TBA ===


Abstract: To add to the over-romanticization of number theory, I will talk about a simple to state problem about triangles that quickly leads into very difficult open problems in modern number theory.
Title: TBA


=== November 30, Iván Ongay Valverde ===
Abstract: TBA


Title: Games for fun, games to change the world, games, games, games
=== November 10, TBA ===


Abstract: We will talk about infinite perfect information games. We will discuss different uses for these games, and we will see that some of them have interesting information for us that helps determine some properties of subsets of reals. Can games change the world? Can we use them in a non-intrusive way? Join to have fun with games, since they are games!
Title: TBA


=== December 7, Will Mitchell ===
Abstract: TBA


Title: An unsolved isomorphism problem from plane geometry
=== November 17, TBA ===


Abstract: A geometric n-configuration is a collection of points and lines in the Euclidean plane such that each point lies on exactly n lines and each line passes through n points. While the study of 3-configurations dates to the nineteenth century, the first example of a 4-configuration appeared only in 1990.  I will say a few things about 4-configurations and state an unsolved problem, and I hope that someone in the audience will decide to work on it.  There will be nice pictures and a shout-out to the singular value decomposition.
Title: TBA


=== December 14, Paul Tveite ===
Abstract: TBA
 
=== November 24, TBA ===
 
Title: TBA
 
Abstract: TBA
 
=== December 1, TBA ===
 
Title: TBA
 
Abstract: TBA
 
=== December 8, TBA ===


Title: TBA
Title: TBA


Abstract: TBA
Abstract: TBA

Revision as of 20:39, 1 October 2021

The AMS Student Chapter Seminar (aka Donut Seminar) is an informal, graduate student seminar on a wide range of mathematical topics. The goal of the seminar is to promote community building and give graduate students an opportunity to communicate fun, accessible math to their peers in a stress-free (but not sugar-free) environment. Pastries (usually donuts) will be provided.

  • When: Wednesdays, 3:30 PM – 4:00 PM
  • Where: Van Vleck, 9th floor lounge (unless otherwise announced)
  • Organizers: Yandi Wu, Maya Banks

Everyone is welcome to give a talk. To sign up, please contact one of the organizers with a title and abstract. Talks are 25 minutes long and should avoid assuming significant mathematical background beyond first-year graduate courses.

The schedule of talks from past semesters can be found here.

Fall 2021

September 29, John Cobb

Title: Rooms on a Sphere

Abstract: A classic combinatorial lemma becomes very simple to state and prove when on the surface of a sphere, leading to easy constructive proofs of some other well known theorems.

October 6, Karan Srivastava

Title: An 'almost impossible' puzzle and group theory

Abstract: You're given a chessboard with a randomly oriented coin on every square and a key hidden under one of them; player one knows where the key is and flips a single coin; player 2, using only the information of the new coin arrangement must determine where the key is. Is there a winning strategy? In this talk, we will explore this classic puzzle in a more generalized context, with n squares and d sided dice on every square. We'll see when the game is solvable and in doing so, see how the answer relies on group theory and the existence of certain groups.

October 13, John Yin

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA

October 20, Varun Gudibanda

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA

October 27, Andrew Krenz

Title: The 3-sphere via the Hopf fibration

Abstract: The Hopf fibration is a map from $S^3$ to $S^2$. The preimage (or fiber) of every point under this map is a copy of $S^1$. In this talk I will explain exactly how these circles “fit together” inside the 3-sphere. Along the way we’ll discover some other interesting facts in some hands-on demonstrations using paper and scissors. If there is time I hope to also relate our new understanding of $S^3$ to some other familiar models.


November 3, TBA

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA

November 10, TBA

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA

November 17, TBA

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA

November 24, TBA

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA

December 1, TBA

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA

December 8, TBA

Title: TBA

Abstract: TBA