Proseminar Mathematics and Magic [MA6001]
Sommersemester 2012
Prof. Dr. Michael M. Wolf, Dr. David Reeb, Dr. Daniel Reitzner
| 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
Schedule and Presentation Topics
On this meeting we will provide you basic information on what to expect and what and how to present.
Prepare to be awed and puzzled by the skills of mind-reading. Does the presenter really
possess the power of extrasensory perception?
(supervised by D. Reitzner) | (handout)
(supervised by D. Reitzner) | (handout)
Does one needs to be a proficient shuffler to be able to prepare a deck so that after shuffling
he can still get a good hand?
(supervised by D. Reitzner) | (handout)
(supervised by D. Reitzner) | (handout)
How can one find a chosen card within a shuffled deck? Is it magic? Is it deception? Or just
some good ole’ math?
(supervised by D. Reitzner)
(supervised by D. Reitzner)
All right. Previously we had shuffles that did not allow one to decide how to shuffle, but
here we will see, that even if you have a word into the way how one shuffles, the result may be
surprising.
(supervised by D. Reitzner) | (handout)
(supervised by D. Reitzner) | (handout)
Probability is a concept we encounter every day in our lives. Yet it can have many strange
and counterintuitive consequences.
(supervised by D. Reitzner) | (handout)
(supervised by D. Reitzner) | (handout)
David Copprefield once made the statue of Liberty disappear. Of course in reality the statue
was still there, just for the people seeing this it was an elaborate illusion. Hiding of objects was
for a long time area for illusionists or for science fiction. A recent boom in studies of invisibility
shows, that reality might not be so far.
(supervised by D. Reeb) | (handout)
(supervised by D. Reeb) | (handout)
Banach-Tarski, infinite hatted queue paradox...
(supervised by D. Reeb) | (handout)
(supervised by D. Reeb) | (handout)
