Proseminar Mathematics and Magic [MA6001]
Sommersemester 2012
| Seminarleitung: |
Prof. Dr. Michael M. Wolf, Dr. David Reeb, Dr. Daniel Reitzner |
| Place and time: |
Tuesdays 14:15-15:45, seminar room 03.10.011 |
| Dates: |
24.4., 8.5., 22.5., 5.6., 12.6., 19.6., 26.6., 10.7., 17.7., 24.7. (spare) |
| Literature: |
Will be provided (sent via email) in the following weeks |
| Prerequisites: |
Analysis 1 & 2, Linear Algebra 1 & 2 |
| Participation: |
In each seminar session your participation is compulsory (schedule below) |
Contents
A good magician is an honest liar — he says he is going to decieve you and then he does! He relies on his good abilities of sleight of hand, the power of influence and suggestion and of course on his abilities to perform. But sometimes a good trick contains something more — mathematics is a founding stone in many tricks. We will learn about such magic tricks which have an interesting underlying mathematical structure. The mathematics ranges from combinatorics over knot theory to differential equations. The corresponding ’magic’ involves card tricks as well as invisibility cloaks.
News
- The last seminar next Tuesday (17.7.) will start a bit earlier, at 13:50 in the same room
- There will be no seminar on 5.6. See you on 12.6. with the Hummer principle
- If you want to reach me (Daniel Reitzner) in following days, please write me an e-mail as I will mostly be out of office (planned return 23.4.)
- We will start by a very short introduction on 24.4.
Format of the Presentations
- Duration: 60-75 minutes, plus time for questions/discussion
- Medium: blackboard (possibly overhead slides or Powerpoint, but then need to go slowly)
- Language: English
