Conference rusure::math

    It could be your favorite Mathematician,  
			Fourier (I am a musician)
             or your favorite Math function, Integration
             or your favorite Math formula, y = sin omega t
             or your favorite Math constant (not just pi), log (e) 2
             or your favorite Math operant (not just +, -, *, ^, /), !
             or your favorite Math teacher or professor, never had a good one

             or anything that is your favorite which is Math related.
			I love my program that draws the pattern emulating
			two swinging pendula, one with a pen, one with a table.
Tom

Some favorites:		theorem -- Pythagorean
				        n!
			formula --   --------
   				     k! (n-k)!
                                  (x + delta)^2 - x^2
			proof --  -------------------   ---->  2x
                                         delta
			professor -- Robert Heineman (Cornell)
			note -- British soldiers/hora synchronization
			game -- Mastermind
			...and Turing machines, and the Science Museum's
			   sand pendulum	

John

Hmmm... this begins to sound like the MUSIC conference.

Some more favorites:	theorems -- Fermat's last, Pspace=NPspace

				     n   n+k-1
			formula -- CC = (     )
   				     k     n

			math operator -- binary exclusive or

			games -- chess, othello, k-Welter (from my thesis)

Nitsan

    my favorite math relationship is:
    
    
    			1 = e^(2*pi*i)
    
    there just seems to be something magical about that combination
    of irrationals, and imaginary combining to make "one".
    
    sm

My favorite Taylor (MacLaurin?) series is the one for the area under
the bell curve from -inf to x.  This is because the terms in the series
contain factors of 2n+1, something squared, 2 raised to the nth power,
and n factorial.

Not that I know all that many such series.

BTW, I never could directly derive a closed-form expression for the
nth term of the series, because each time you take the derivitive of the
last term to get the next one, the number of terms in the expression
doubles.  So I could never get far enough to notice a pattern.  Someone
pointed me at a probability book which had the series written down without
derivation.
				/AHM

        This topics a bit old but I see no reason to start a new note.
    I have two favorite topics.  The first is complex variables and
    functions.  The second is fractal geometry.
        I like complex variables because of the merger of algebra and
    geometry.  Also, finding a mapping to solve electrostatics or fluid
    flow problems has a similar feel to programming.  Complex variables
    also gave me a better grasp of Linear Systems and stability.
        I became interested in fractals because of complex variables.
    At first I was interested in the Mandelbrot set but later I became
    interested in dragon curves and tree stuctures.
        Are there any other people interested in fractals in this con-
    ference?
    
    Martin H.

    I'm not really too good at math, and am a typical engineer/physics
    type at heart, but do find it very interesting.

    I have also been fascinated by complex variables, probably ever since
    encountering 'phasors' in a high school electicity course.  In a sense
    it can be a gateway to advanced mathematics.  My own experiences in
    trying to demystify and really understand it has shown how unified
    mathematics really is.  Complex lies at the intersection of so many
    things - topology (Riemann surfaces), analysis, partial differential
    equations, differential geometry, and on and on.

    The math I like is more visual than the areas most computer science
    people are into;  algebra, combinatorial stuff and probability doesn't
    hold a great interest.  In college, I essentialy 'cheated' my way thru
    math courses by making up pictures of physical situations to understand
    things rather than proceeding by logic, and it rarely failed me.

    My parents were both commercial artists, so that's probably what the
    problem is.

    - Jim

	I'm real fond of fractals and complex num's as well; my main
	area of interest is chaotic dynamics, with an emphasis on
	modelling complicated natural systems.  Related to this is
	my interest in self-organizing and adaptive systems.

	-Art
	"Bounded chaotic mixing produces strange stabilities..."

    Re. -1
        I've heard of chaotic dynamics but don't know to much about
    it.  Can you recommend any good books?
    
    Martin H.

    I've seen a number of books at the university bookstores in Boston
    and Cambridge.  The subject probably has its roots in classical
    mechanics, where questions of the stability of the solar system and
    the like were asked.  You can get amazingly complex behaviour with
    some rather simple coupled differential equations; a good example
    is the Lorenz equations - a set equations in 3 variables that leads
    to nonperiodic behaviour, and came about from studying atmospheric
    turbulance.  I'll post a copy of a simple program to play with the
    Lorenz attractor separately.

    - Jim

>			The subject probably has its roots in classical
>    mechanics, where questions of the stability of the solar system and
>    the like were asked.  


	Actually, a lot of the work dealing with chaotic systems
	grew out of questions arising from fluid dynamics and
	turbulence, and the impossibility of describing/predicting
	the onset of turbulence using the methods of traditional 
	physics (i.e. mechanics).

	Also, a lot of interesting chaotic behavior shows up in
	discrete-time systems (in the form of difference equations)
	as well as in systems of DifEq's.  Even the old logistic
	equation will pop itself into a chaotic regime when it's
	pushed far enough.

	I'll get a short booklist together this weekend and attach
	it to this note.

	-Art

Favorite math proof (great for kids):

	      a	= b
	    a^2	= ab
      a^2 - b^2 = ab - b^2
 (a + b)(a - b)	= b(a - b)
	  a + b	= b
	  b + b	= b
	     2b	= b
	      2	= 1

    My favorite equation is:
    
                 2     2
    		x  -  a   = (x - a).(x + a)
    
    because when I first was thaught algebra it made me realize *why*
    the primary school trick of 52*48 worked the way it did (e.g. the 
    equations had a real life meaning!). It also foxed in my mind the
    difference between variables and constants.
    
    Wildrik 8-))