Spring 2005 Schedule
- April 7 Sasha Malinsky will speak. His description:
Parabolas are widely recognized. They appear in the study of conic sections in ancient Greece. Intermediate Algebra students see them as graphs of some of the first non-linear relationships that they encounter. In Physics they are in the vocabulary of ballistics modeling. In this talk, the parabola is the thread that ties the problems being examined. In one of these, a mathematical proposition that is stated in physical terms is explored with algebra, trigonometry and just a touch of calculus. This leads to an insight into some physics. Components of the exploration might be suitable as a lab exercise for early physics and calculus students. The other problem is a search for the proof of the parabolas physical property, usually treated in a calculus course, in the terms of older mathematics.
- April 14 Larry Susanka will speak on Nonstandard Analysis. Newton, Leibniz and the other inventors of analysis used very intuitive but non rigorous arguments involving "infinitesimal displacements" and the like to justify their results. We take a glimpse at the hyperreal numbers and how they can be used to bypass limits and resurrect the original arguments.
- April 28 Jim Kelly will speak on radar and signal processing.
- May 12 Larry Susanka will continue speaking on the Hyperreal Numbers and Nonstandard Analysis.
- May 19 Rob Viens will speak on Planetary Geology: New Information from Recent Titan/Saturn Observations
- May 26 Larry Susanka will continue talking about Nonstandard Analysis.
- June 2 Jim Kelly will speak on "light field photography" whereby photos taken with a slightly modified camera can be digitally refocused after the picture is taken.
- June 9 David Stacy, Robert Hobbs and students will discuss experiments associated with past Colloquia. I don't have the details yet.
If you wish to contact someone about these seminars or get on our weekly mailing list send email to Larry Susanka at lsusanka@bellevuecollege.edu or call (425) 564-2484.
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