Events - May 2022

Aiden Suter, Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Waterloo

"A brief overview of monstrous moonshine"

Austin Sun, Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Waterloo

"Two Proofs of the Generalized Bézout's Theorem - Part I"

The goal of this talk series is to examine algebraic and geometric aspects of the generalized Bézout's theorem by giving two different proofs. In part I of this talk series, I will give an introduction to intersection theory and discuss geometric intuitions behind Bézout's theorem for plane curves. Then, I will present a proof of the generalized theorem based on the one found in Terry Tao's blog.

Speaker: None - this is a discussion-based seminar

Title: A Discussion on Universal Design for Learning

Please join us on Thursday, May 19 for the first teaching seminar of the Spring 2022 term. This session will be an open discussion on Universal Design for Learning (UDL): a way of thinking about teaching and learning that helps give all students an equal opportunity to succeed.

Sean Monahan, Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Waterloo

"An introduction to horospherical varieties"

I will introduce horospherical varieties, which are a generalization of toric varieties. Similarly to toric varieties, these have a combinatorial description in terms of polyhedral geometry. I will outline the key parts from the combinatorial description for toric varieties, and we will see how to generalize these to the horospherical setting.

MC 5403

Talk #1 (9:30-10:30): Spiro Karigiannis, Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Waterloo 

Title: Calibrated subbundles of R^7, part II
Abstract: I will continue, and hopefully conclude, the discussion of calibrated subbundles in R^7. We will quickly review the previous talk and then focus on the coassociative case, which corresponds to negative superminimal surfaces.

Benoit Charbonneau and Spencer Whitehead, Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Waterloo

"Zometool workshop"

Hanging from the rafters of M3 is a Zometool construction of a projection of the 120-cell: one of five exceptional convex regular polytopes, and the four-dimensional analogue of the dodecahedron. This seminar is a hands-on learning activity, where participants have the chance to construct a Zometool 120-cell, as well as other projections of four-dimensional geometric constructions as time permits.