Tutte Colloquium - Yoav Len

Title: Tangent Lines and the equation 28 = 7 × 4

Abstract:

I will discuss combinatorial aspects of tangent lines to curves and planar graphs. In algebraic geometry, every smooth plane curve has finitely many lines that are tangent to it at two separate points. My talk will revolve around a combinatorial analogue of this fact in tropical geometry, which hides rich combinatorics, and is related to other phenomena such as sandpile models and harmonic covers of graphs. I will not assume any knowledge in tropical or algebraic geometry.