All talks will be accessible to undergraduates. The default time and place for all talks is 4 pm in 221 Fitzelle Hall. After the talk we will relocate to 201 Fitzelle Hall for tea and cookies.

Click here for a campus map. Visitors can park in the purple lots.

Organizers: Toke Knudsen, Jim Ruffo

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• Friday, 11 September
  M-Zeroids: Structure and Its Effect on the Additive Operation
  J. Palmatier, SUNY Oneonta.
  Abstract: An m-zeroid is an algebraic structure with both operations and an inherent order on its elements. If we remove the order by making it totally ordered and finite, only the additive operation remains important. In this talk, we will discuss how the structure of the finite, totally-ordered m-zeroid, both algebraic and pictorial, restricts the additive operation table and allows you to generate such an m-zeroid with a minimum of fuss.



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• Friday, 9 October
  The Mathematics of Origami
  L. Bridgers, SUNY Oneonta.
  Abstract: With paper folding, we can complete geometric constructions that are impossible using the classical geometry tools of a straight edge and compass. In this talk we will explore some origami constructions and the geometry proofs behind them. This will include both constructions that we could complete with a straight edge and compass, such as the construction of an equilateral triangle, and those that are impossible using a straight edge and compass, such as the trisection of an angle.




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• Friday, 6 November
  Number Theory and Music
  L. Alex, SUNY Oneonta.
  Abstract: In this talk connections between musical intervals and Diophantine equations in number theory will be described. In particular the intervals will be viewed as "superparticular" ratios of the form (n+1)/n. In this form the octave would be viewed as the ratio 2/1. The ten superparticular ratios corresponding to the intervals preferred by the Western ear will be listed. Each of these ratios corresponds to a solution of a certain Diophantine equation in number theory. An elementary number theoretic method for solving the equation will be illustrated.




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• Friday, 4 December
  Disappearing Messages: Basic Steganography
  J. Ryder, SUNY Oneonta.
  Abstract: The practice of steganography involves surrepetitiosly hiding a secret within some object at a source location then allowing that object to be carried to some destination. At the destination, a receiver extracts the secret from the carrier. Steganography is secret communication in which only the sender and receiver of the secret know of its existence yet it travels through hostile territory unnoticed. In Ancient Greece, troops at one location would tattoo a secret onto a slave's shaved head. When the slave's hair had once again become sufficiently long, the slave would be sent to another camp some distance away. Upon arrival, the slave's head was shaved and the secret message was read. This brief talk will show a few ways that steganography is used today in the digital world. Examples will show methods of hiding secrets in images, in Internet web pages, in music, and even in plain text.