# Math Club

#### – This Week –

What does the equation $e^{-2x}=1-x$ have to do with epidemiology?
An important goal of epidemiology is to predict the spread of infectious diseases. We will see how relatively simple mathematical models are used to generate such predictions, as well as how they are used to guide public health interventions.

Welcome to the Math Club home page!

The math club meets once a week in the Winter term, on Thursday evenings for about an hour. It is intended for anyone interested in mathematics, whether they are a math major or not.

At each meeting a speaker will discuss an interesting idea in mathematics. We try to pick topics that can be understood without much background. An ideal topic is one which starts with something simple, and by exploring its twists and turns, leads to something unexpectedly deeper.

The goal is to show mathematics the way that mathematicians see it: a living subject full of deep and intertwining ideas, growing naturally out of our desire to understand the fundamental concepts of space and number.

 Date Topic Speaker Jan. 23 A short proof of the sensitivity conjecture Ivan Dimitrov 30 Find the equation of this curve Peter Taylor Feb. 6 Breaking the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus? Francesco Cellarosi 13 Can one summarize a text without reading it? Atabey Kaygun 27 Random walks and a truncation of Pascal's triangle Jamie Mingo Mar. 5 Buffon's needle problem Anup Dixit 12 What does $e^{-2x}=1-x$ have to do with epidemiology? Troy Day 19 — Cancelled — M. Ram Murty 26 — Cancelled — Abdul Zalloum Apr. 2 — Cancelled — Ruth Charney

The meetings are Thursdays in Jeff 118 from 17:30–18:30.

To suggest a topic for the Math Club, or to find out further information, please email Ivan Dimitrov, Mike Roth, or Greg Smith .

 Web Site of the Week Check out Quanta Magazine; an online science magazine specializing in Mathematics, Physics, and the Life Sciences.