2017 Section Meeting

Invited talks

Jennifer Quinn, University of Washington

Epic Math Battles: Counting vs. Matching

Abstract: Which technique is mathematically superior? The audience will judge of this tongue-in-cheek combinatorial competition between the mathematical techniques of counting and matching. Be prepared to explore positive and alternating sums involving binomial coefficients, Fibonacci numbers, and other beautiful combinatorial quantities. How are the terms in each sum concretely interpreted? What is being counted? What is being matched? Which is superior? You decide.

Dan Fox, Pittsburgh Pirates

The Math Says Yes: Analytics and Organizational Change in Major League Baseball

Abstract: Major League Baseball is an institution with a long and storied tradition. In this talk we'll explore what happened in one organization when analytics met tradition. We will also talk about the implementation of analytics at all levels of the operation and provide some examples of how the math is being used to inform the decision making process.

Robert Devaney, Boston University

The Fractal Geometry of the Mandelbrot Set

Abstract: In this lecture we describe several folk theorems concerning the Mandelbrot set. While this set is extremely complicated from a geometric point of view, we will show that, as long as you know how to add and how to count, you can understand this geometry completely. We will encounter many famous mathematical objects in the Mandelbrot set, like the Farey tree and the Fibonacci sequence. And we will find many soon-to-be-famous objects as well, like the "Devaney" sequence. There might even be a joke or two in the talk.