MATC Matters

You and your students are invited, to Math Club’s presentation of “A Marvelously Terrible Algorithm from Leonhard Euler” lecture by Professor Benjamin Collins, UW-Platteville

The event will be held Friday, October 19, 3:30 p.m., followed by a reception at 4:30 p.m.

Leonhard Euler was unquestionably one of the greatest mathematical minds of all time. However, from the vantage point of the 20th century, many of his techniques seem to lack rigor. An algorithm for solving polynomial equations, which author Peter Flusser says is based on nothing but wishful thinking, will be presented. Despite what the author says, as with almost everything from the mind of Euler, the algorithm works!

Professor Collins earned a Bachelor’s degree from Central College (IA), a Master’s degree from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has taught at Saint John’s University (MN), Midland Lutheran College (NE), and is currently on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. His mathematical interests include graph theory, abstract algebra, and history of mathematics, and his non-Mathematical interests are Tessa (9), Ashton (6) and Quinn (2). He is the Public Information Officer of the MAA(WI).

For more details, including his last presentation to our math club, please visit the math club webpage.