About

The Slow Pitch Colloquium is aimed at both undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics. Students and faculty are encouraged to give talks. Topics can vary wildly, from student research projects to amusements in recreational mathematics. If you are interested in presenting a talk, please e-mail Charlie Scherer

 
 

Where and When

Slow Pitch talks will take place in MATH350 on Wednesdays at 4:00pm.

 
 

2009-2010 Schedule

Date	Speaker	Title and Abstract
August 31st 2011	Kevin Selker	To infinity and beyond: an introduction to the hierarchy of cardinals small and large. Abstract: Large cardinals emerged in the twentieth century as a central and rich area of set theoretic study. We will provide an introduction to "small" infinite cardinals, and then a few large cardinals, starting from very basic principles. No knowledge of set theory or infinite combinatorics will be assumed. Really.
September 7th 2011	Reuben Dlamini	Abstract: The presentation will be on CU's Course Management Systems. During the session I will introduce Desire2Learn and talk about how most instructors use the system. Desire2Learndoes all the things faculty members would expect from their online learningenvironment but it has some additional features aswell.They can use D2L as a repository of information, as a communication tool, as anassessment tool and as an administrative tool. I will spend some time highlighting the tools instructors can use tosupport these uses.
September 14th 2011	No Speaker	Exam Week
September 21st 2011	Matt Grimes	The computer you get to use on every exam, i.e. your TI-89. Abstract: If you have a shiny new calculator that only seems to make things more difficult, then this talk is for you. Though focused on the TI-89, much of the talk will be applicable to other models. We will learn how to make effective use of the home screen, the graphing utilities, and the built-in scripting language. From College Algebra to Calc 3, this talk will help you get more out of your graphing calculator.
September 28th 2011	Bryce Chriestenson	Abstract: I will give the axiomatic definition of a homology theory and that of a cohomology theory on a suitable category of topological spaces. I will then give several examples of each; such as: singular (co)homology, de Rham Cohomology, Cech Cohomology, etc. If I have time I will talk about how some of them are related.
Octoboer 5th 2011	Mike Martinez	A brief introduction to K-theory. A brief introduction to K-theory. Abstract: K-theory is an extraordinary cohomology theory, that is, a cohomology theory with a relaxed version of the dimension axiom. In this talk, I will define the K-theory of a topological space using vector bundles and talk about some properties of the theory including Bott periodicity. If vector bundles aren't your thing, I will give alternative descriptions of K-theory in terms of modules and matrices and show that they are equivalent to the original definition and that they give rise to an algebraic version of K-theory. I will try to make this talk as accessible as possible so that if any eager undergrads want to attend and know what a vector space is, they won't get entirely lost.
October 12th 2011	No Speaker	Exam Week
Octoboer 19th 2011	Charile Scherer	Nonstandard Analysis Calculus was originally formulated in terms of infinitesimals. The derivative was the average rate of change over an infinitesimal unit of time. The idea of an infinitesimal was vaguely formulated and was eventually replaced by limits. Modern logic has no trouble making infinitesimals rigorous. I will discuss the idea of an infinitesimal in the setting of ordered fields and prove the chain rule using infinitesimals. Time permitting, I will discuss how to construct ordered fields of the type required. I will use jargon like "direct product, ideal, transfer principle" and not words like "ultraproduct, filter, elementary substructure."
October 26th 2011	Justin Keller	An Introduction to Cluster Algebras Cluster Algebras are a relatively new structure that originally came about in the study of total positivity in matrices. Since then, they have been detected in a variety of other fields such as differential equations and root systems. In this talk we will give a definition for cluster algebras and some typical examples.
November 2nd 2011	Erica Shannon	The Abelian Sandpile Model The Abelian Sandpile Model, created by Dhar in 1990, is a graph-theoretical construction of a dynamical system that gives rise to an abelian group. Given a graph, especially a grid of specified dimensions, I'll discuss how the corresponding sandpile group works and some of its interesting properties. I will also discuss a conjecture relating sandpile groups to the combinatorial problem of enumerating dimer covers.