Random Trees

Week 1, Tuesday 20 January HT 2015
8:15pm
L3, Mathematical Institute

Tree structures are ubiquitous in nature, and it is natural to want to model trees which are somehow randomly generated. In mathematics, we think of trees as connected graphs (or networks) with no cycles; these are a fundamental object of study in combinatorics.

Mathematics underpins the world we live in

Week 2, Tuesday 27 January HT 2015
8:15pm
L3, Mathematical Institute

What do the grey squirrel invasion of England, and the growth of cancer, have in common? How are animal coat markings and chemical reactions related? What links the life cycle of the slime mold and heart attacks? Answer: Mathematics! Come and find out how.

Why gravity isn’t so attractive after all

Week 3, Tuesday 3 February HT 2015
8:15pm
L3, Mathematical Institute

We experience gravity as an attractive force but that’s just because our experience of it is very limited. In our experience a gravitational field is generated by mass-energy. But Lorentz Covariance requires that it is also generated by pressure.

Hilary 2015 Social

Week 4, Tuesday 10 February HT 2015
8:15pm
L2, Mathematical Institute

The “dual” way of doing geometry

Week 5, Tuesday 17 February HT 2015
8:15pm
L3, Mathematical Institute

The talk will be about some weird ways of doing geometry and physics.

Progress in Prime Number Theory

Week 6, Tuesday 24 February HT 2015
8:15pm
L3, Mathematical Institute

This will be a low-brow talk about some of the classical problems in the theory of prime numbers, and the progress that has been made in the recent (and not-so-recent) past.

The Tutte Polynomial and Computational Complexity

Week 7, Tuesday 3 March HT 2015
8:15pm
L3, Mathematical Institute

The Tutte polynomial is an interesting two-variable graph polynomial defined by a deletion-contraction recurrence. I will first define a specialisation, the chromatic polynomial, which was introduced earlier by Birkhoff as an approach to the 4-colour problem.

Annual General Meeting

Week 8, Tuesday 10 March HT 2015
8:15pm
Common Room, Mathematical Institute

The AGM is a chance for members to make their mark on the society by raising important issues or running for committee positions. We are holding elections for every committee position, so come along and get involved. Our Annual General Meeting in the Common Room upstairs.